The AI virus
by Vikeila
Summary: A virus giving monsters Artificial Intelligence is spreading through Aincrad, where thousands of players are trapped in a win or die game. What happens when monsters gain the intelligence of humans? And are monsters the only ones affected by the virus? Mainly OCs and probably almost no relationship with the main characters from SAO. Cover art by Airenee
1. Torn apart and put back together

**Disclaimer: Don't own Sword Art Online or almost anything I guess... except for my OC's and the story itself I guess.**

**The amazing cover art was drawn by Airenee!**

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**The world of Sword Art Online, castle of Aincrad. It's been a little more than a year since the players that wanted to try out the new game on the Nerve Gear got trapped in a giant death game.**

**A strange virus is affecting monsters and making them develop artificial intelligence. What can monsters, that can even use strategy and elemental attacks, do to humans? Will the humans die off without completing the game? And it this the only effect of the virus?**

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**_Torn apart and put back together_**

**_Floor 35. Forest of Wandering._**

_*panting* grrrr..._

"Look! There they are, Vorus!" a blond male shouted out, pointing at a group of Feathered Little Dragons and making another male stop.

"Are you crazy?!" the stopped black-haired male whispered loudly. "Do you want to scare them away? Do you want to let a five floor exploration go to waste, Ceracus?"

In the pitch black night Feathered Little Dragons stood out with their rather bright colors. The color was a pure one and none had the same. Green, yellow, red, pink, blue. All shone a little in the night, as if small stars landed in that dark forest.

But in the day, as they flew around the sky, they shone even brighter, as if their light was competing with the sun's. But they needed sleep and settled in the thick forest for the night. They flew in the sky too much to have energy to find a better hiding place. And that was their downfall.

Five little dragons, gathered in a tight circle, seemed to be concerned about one of their kind, but as humans were spotted, the healthy feathered dragons growled and showed off their sharp teeth to the players, while eyeing them with their hostile, shining, inverted-colored eyes.

_Gruuuooh... Hnnng..._

"Alright, you know the plan, right?" the dark-haired human asked quietly, eyeing back the monsters and slowly reaching for his sword.

"Yes, yes. I'll get the cages ready... But, Vorus, don't you think that maybe this game doesn't work like Pokemon do?" Ceracus seemed to pity the creatures, as he searched his items for cages meant for these Aincrad monsters.

"You got a better idea? Don't go soft on them!" Vorus raised his voice, but seeing that the feathered dragons became even more alerted, he tried to whisper again. "They don't have feelings. They don't feel pain. It doesn't matter how we treat them. Now get ready. I'm going in!"

Without letting Ceracus say anything else, Vorus swooped in with his long sword, which, even in the night, shone with a green light, that was well coordinated with Vorus' slightly green armor.

_I-it huuuurts..._

Every single but one of the little dragons were alerted and took to the sky, swooping around with agility, trying to avoid the green blade and also trying to get the players away from one of the hurt creatures.

"H-hey, Vorus–"

"Shut it! Just ready the cages! We don't have time for anything else!" Vorus became more and more furious every second as he couldn't land one hit on the agile creatures flying in the sky. His jumping skills were also poor.

Ceracus gripped the wooden cage, that he got out of his inventory, tighter and took a step back, surprised by how quickly Vorus became enraged.

_W-what's happening... I feel l-like I'm being t-torn apart and put back t-together..._

Ceracus' attention was fully diverted to the strange dark blue dragon left further away on the ground. It seemed like it... glitched. It looked like someone was drawing multi-colored squares on it that appeared and disappeared constantly. Why would such a thing glitch? It's not even doing anything.

*slash*

The yellow dragon was knocked down and screeches from the ones that were left flying were far louder than the one that was actually hurt. These creatures seemed as if they had been programmed to always stick together and help one another. Not many monsters have that.

The health of the slashed monster quickly went down, as Vorus inflicted a couple more hits, constantly keeping an eye on its health bar. It would soon reach red.

_Mom? Is that you? Y-you're hurt..._

The screeching turned even louder as the monsters kept flying by Vorus and slashing him with anything they could use. Usually claws left markings on exposed skin patches, which weren't that many. Sadly, they couldn't use more powerful attacks, because they would probably accidentally hurt the yellow dragon on the ground.

With accidental slashing making just tiny scratches, a few dragons even started biting Vorus, throwing out their wish to not be in the hurt creatures place. That was the last straw for the green player.

"Ceracus! What are you doing! Use your hammer for crying out loud! You know these creatures pack a punch!"

And yet, Vorus's health was nowhere near the little yellow dragon on the ground, under one of his feet. He kept pushing it into the ground, so that it wouldn't escape.

The swinging hammer easily knocked away the biting monsters and Ceracus, seeing that the health of the yellow dragon, still being slashed by Vorus, will deplete fully pretty soon, grabbed it from under Vorus and stuffed it into the cage.

The Feathered Little Dragons that were left screeched at exactly the same time, sending a sort of shockwave through the players. A stun took over their bodies, at least for a minute or so.

But there was enough time for the still flying dragons to swoop down to the cage and knock it straight out of Ceracus' hand. Sharp teeth quickly tore apart the wooden cage and the yellow dragon, though still weak, flew out, purring thankfully to the rest. Again, the whole weyr retreated to the dark blue little dragon and carefully started flying away with it, grabbing onto it with their paws.

_Aaaah! L-let go! It hurts!_

Finally the blue dragon started letting out normal monstrous noises and painfully screeched, as it was being carried away.

A few more seconds and the stun wore off, making the players finally able to run after the weyr of little dragons.

A sudden flash of bright blue light made the dragons disappear. It was a natural thing in this forest, so the players went straight after the dragons, going to another patch of the forest as well. But, even though the dragons should have been on the other side of an invisible portal, there was nothing but dark forest, with no bright colors of any sort. Not even colored feathers. Just simple forest monsters, ready to attack the two players if approached.

"Wh-where did they go?" Ceracus couldn't believe his eyes. And Vorus was simple enraged.

"Five flucking floors for this?! Five flucking floors filled with high-leveled monsters and we have nothing to show for it?!" Vorus started slashing the trees around with his sword and quickly got the attention of monsters that did not want their home to suffer.

"Vorus, calm down. We don't have time and health to fight these monsters. We need to get back to town and stock up," Ceracus held down Vorus' right arm that held the green blade and calmly explained. "I marked the yellow dragon. We should see it's path. And it's definitely not here."

"So where else can it flucking be?! Can you even see the path of a flying monster?!"

"I-I don't know. But maybe they just got back at the same time we entered this part of the forest," Ceracus suggested.

"...You're saying they can trick humans?" Vorus' outburst seized for a little, as he tried to cope with the idea.

"Or just got lucky. Either way, let's get back," without wasting any more time, Ceracus jumped back to the previous forest area. Vorus soon followed.

And yet, there were no signs of the brightly colored monsters. No paths, no feathers. Flying creatures can't be spotted after all. Or maybe too much time passed since the yellow feathered dragon was marked.

* * *

"Just a while longer. We need to find a safe place in this forest," a voice filled with motherly love quietly echoed through the darkness as they've been flying in almost complete silence for ten minutes. Only painful groans and pants, that tried to help the dragons that tried to catch their breaths, could be heard before.

"But Ninomeena is in so much pain, mommy," a young female's voice was drenched in pity.

"I think we should be fine if we land here. There is no way those humans could have tracked us down," a fatherly figure made a decision and finally, the weyr of five brightly colored little feathered dragons landed on the dark, cold ground once again.

The dark blue one couldn't open her eyes. She couldn't fully understand what was going on, or even who was talking. Talking... she never understood any other language, except growling before. And that language she heard along with tiny flapping wings sounded humanish. How could that be.

The pain paralyzed her entire body. She wanted to move, she wanted to growl, but only quiet whimpers left her throat.

"Ninomeena, hang in there," something soft rubbed its face against the dark blue dragons'. It was warm and somewhat calming.

Something bright started shining and Ninomeena could see it even through her closed eyes. After a moment, the pain started receding quickly and the dark blue dragon could finally breathe with ease. Finally, she could open her eyes.

Immediately, the colored dragons jumped to her face, to make sure she's alright. Yellow, pink, red, green dragons with eyes colored as if they were opposite to their feathers' colors.

"Ninomeena, can you understand me?" the yellow one with worried violet eyes inquired.

The dark blue dragon could only nod. A new language which she immediately understands. How could this be?

"Try saying something, dear," the same yellow dragon encouraged her, with all the others eagerly waiting for the result.

"I... I can talk... Like a human?" even though Ninomeena heard those words leaving her mouth, she still felt dumbstruck.

"That's right, Ninomeena. Our whole family was changed from simple monsters to intelligent ones. You were the last one to undergo the change and it seems you suffered the most as well, but I believe you just need some rest and you will be fine," the yellow one nudged her forehead against Ninomeena's cheek.

"But you shouldn't reveal your intelligence to humans too much, Ninomeena," the green dragon with red eyes advised, as he patted Ninomeena with his right green wing.

"Yes. Humans don't seem to have noticed how monsters are changing for now. That just means we have the element of surprise," the red dragon looked into a distance with a smirk. His green eyes flickered. It was obvious this one wanted to fight.

"Y-yes. But that doesn't mean we should really attack humans," the pink one quietly objected to her brother.

Ninomeena listened to those dragons and felt like she both knows everything and nothing. She somehow recognized them. She knew that the green and the yellow dragons were her parents. They were a little bigger than the others as well. So that leaves the red and the pink one. A brother and a sister.

But this word - "Ninomeena". It's a name, right? Do the other dragons have names as well?

The dark blue dragon guessed it doesn't really matter. She knows they are her family and that's enough. Family means that they all stick together, help and protect each other.

"Try moving more, dear," the mother yellow dragon encouraged Ninomeena once again.

"A-alright," the dark blue little dragon carefully stood up and started walking around her family, observing both them and her surroundings. Five brightly colored feathered dragons, hiding for a while in a dark forest, until the youngest one to undergo the transformation is ready to move on.

Ninomeena stretched her wings and looked at her dark blue feathers before flapping and taking to the air. Everything seemed normal. She flew around a lot before this transformation, so there wasn't a problem.

The other four dragons joined Ninomeena and the green one took the lead. All the others understood without questions that they just need to follow.

"Serouso, no wandering off this time, got it," the green fatherly dragon warned someone in the group. From the looks of it, that was meant for the red one, because he growled a little and looked away.

"Serouso," Ninomeena quietly repeated the name, to remember it, but the red dragon had keen enough ears to hear it.

"What?!" he seemed irritated. It almost made the dark blue dragon flinch, but she kept her cool.

"I just repeated it to remember it better. I don't know any names here but my own. Well, and yours now too," Ninomeena explained herself.

"Oh, dear, you don't really need to know our names," the yellow one giggled. "You should just know what we are to you from a family's position. But if you want, I can introduce you to everyone. I'm Fayerin, your mother," she seemed to bow a little as she kept on flying with her head turned to Ninomeena. Then she pointed one of her short arms to the green one. "He is your father, Carith. You already know your older brother's name, so all that's left is Lilomeena, your twin sister," she smiled back at the pink dragon.

Ninomeena felt a bit lost. She never used names. She never even understood the concept, but as she does now, they seem to be rather important, if everyone has such different ones. And yet, even though there were only four, it was hard to remember them all immediately.

After a while, the darkness started receding as the sun started peeking out on the horizon. Ninomeena felt tired, but didn't want to complain. She wanted to be the same as her family, meaning she had to be as strong as them as well.

But she was still interested in where they were going. But could she ask that? It felt strange, understanding that everyone around her probably knows where they are going, except her.

The dark forest far bellow them kept brightening. Humans here and there were fighting monsters. Ninomeena spotted a human that seemed to be dangerously cornered by three giant and furry monsters. She almost felt that she would like to help, but the human drank some kind of potion and got back to fighting. A few slashes later, the monsters dispersed into bright-colored dust and vanished completely, letting the human get a little breather.

Ninomeena smiled a little and calmly flew on. She couldn't understand why she cared if a human would be killed or not, but now everything was fine, so it wasn't really a concern.

But Serouso spotted her concern and didn't seem pleased. With a sneer he looked down and scoffed. He understood Ninomeena has to learn how things work in this world much sooner, than anyone in their family, before she does something stupid.

The red little dragon flew to the green leader and whispered something. Everyone spotted the movement in their group and everyone's eyes were fixated on the two dragons in the front. Carith nodded and looked back at Ninomeena.

"We're landing," he ordered and dived down, with the rest of the dragons following him.

The forest was almost over and the horizon was kind of over as well. Ninomeena couldn't help but think she and her family were trapped in some sort of giant dome. Or maybe the world just isn't so big.

The five dragons landed near the edge, where there was a little opening in the forest and everyone but Ninomeena stood behind Carith. Before the dark blue dragon understood she should stand behind him too, Carith summoned a some sort of green hurricane attack from his mouth and aimed it right at Ninomeena. The little one flinched and quickly jumped away, but the hurricane attack still scraped her.

"We are fighters, Ninomeena," Carith seized his attacks and started explaining with a serious and harsh voice. "We train, we fight and we survive, whether we are attacked by monsters or humans," the green dragon's wings started glowing even brighter green and he quickly dashed towards Ninomeena, flying just a little off the ground.

The dark blue dragon didn't know what else to do but evade. She stared at the rest of her family with terrified eyes. Fayerin and Lilomeena both looked concerned and scared for Ninomeena's health, but Serouso seemed to enjoy this little fight.

"Attack, sweetie!" Fayerin finally shouted, as Ninomeena hit her back to a tree after an unsuccessful evading and Carith was going in with another Leaf Wing attack.

Ninomeena could barely breathe and she could hear her heart beating almost deafeningly, but she still heard her mother. But-but to attack father...?

There was no other choice. Ninomeena's front claws started glowing dark blue and, as she jumped with the last energy her tired, newly transformed body had, she slashed Carith's back as the green one slashed the tree where Ninomeena just was.

Carith groaned quietly and landed. As he turned his head back, he watched Ninomeena tumbling on the ground, after she tried to fly to get away, but her wings didn't listen.

But suddenly, Ninomeena felt her body regaining strength. She looked at the side she spotted glowing from. Yellow and pink light spread from her mother and sister to her.

"She was far from getting killed," Serouso growled as he observed how Ninomeena's health bar slowly regained it's green color.

"Serouso, be nicer to your sister," Fayerin scolded her son as the last of her healing was passed to Ninomeena. Healing was easy for the yellow dragon, but Lilomeena transformed only a few days ago, so she still didn't get a good hang of her skills and abilities and felt tired. Fayerin noticed her daughter's fatigue and nudged her gently. "It's alright, dear. Your healing powers are much greater than mine and you will soon be the top healer in our family. Practice makes perfect."

Lilomeena smiled and nodded. She needed to get ready to heal Ninomeena again, if their father would try to fight her again.

But Carith seemed pleased with the dark blue dragon's attack. The scratch on his back still glowed red as nobody healed him for it to go away immediately. The attack didn't inflict any status ailments, but it did knock off at least around a tenth of Carith's health. Of course the green dragon did much more damage, but Ninomeena was far behind her father with the level she had, so it wasn't a surprise.

With the intelligence these dragons had acquired, they could even train and level up, not like other monsters.

"Serouoso, scan!" Carith ordered and as Serouso's eyes started glowing brighter green, the green dragon walked back to the rest of the family, leaving Ninomeena separated once again. But she didn't want to take any chances and immediately sprinted to her family.

Fayerin gently patted her dark blue daughter's head and whispered. "Don't worry. If you get hurt - we will heal you. We won't abandon you, even if it looks like we have, alright?" the yellow dragon assured Ninomeena, but that made her even more worried, as she understood there was more hardship to come.

"A few Blood Deer are heading our way. They seem hungry," Serouso smirked, at first still looking to the forest with his shining eyes and then at Ninomeena, once the shining stopped.

"Perfect. It will help your level immensely, Ninomeena," Carith seemed happy. The dark blue dragon understood that her father doesn't really want her to get hurt too much. He just wants her to become stronger. Serouso on the other hand...

But before more thinking could be done, the approaching Blood Deer jumped into the clearing. At first they looked like calm, docile creatures, even with their giant, sharp horns. But as they bared their always blood-covered fangs there was no question whether these creatures were carnivores or not. Their brown fur with golden swirls looked rather beautiful, but who cares, if you'll be killed by beautiful creatures or ugly ones.

"Beat them, Ninomeena. We will help you if you get in trouble," Fayerin and Lilomeena smiled at the dark blue little dragon and, together with Serouso and Carith, took to the sky, leaving Ninomeena in the mercy of three Blood Deer.

The dragon gulped, while the hostile deer pawed the ground and breathed out furiously. If they were as intelligent as the dragons, they would probably sneer at the little creature. Or... not even try to attack her, understanding what power she might be hiding.

One of the deer dashed towards Ninomeena, with its horns glowing red. The dark blue dragon concentrated, as she breathed in deeply and flapped her wings hard, so that they would boost her higher than the deer could reach her. The deer didn't even touch Ninomeena, while she slashed its head, leaving a red streak of rising crystals on its forehead.

The deer didn't seem to be very pleased by the inflicted damage and turned around to get ready for another assault. Ninomeena saw that only a fifteenth of its health went down and understood the battle will be long. There were two more Blood Deer waiting after all.

She needed something to inflict damage over time, so she wouldn't have to damage each deer herself. Not one of the dragons will help her in any way, except for healing, so she had to inflict all the damage herself.

Poison... Sounds the best. But how can she inflict it.

Like through fog, an image of an attack that summons poisonous rain, floated around in her memory.

"Concentrate, Ninomeena," the dark blue dragon started talking to herself as she closed her eyes and kept her distance in the air away from the Blood Deer that kept eyeing her and waiting for the moment to strike. She hoped they couldn't jump as high as she was.

Suddenly, without her wish, her eyes shot open and an orange light could only be seen, instead of the forest and the hostile monsters inside it. Ninomeena started panicking.

_"Am I going blind?!"_ she thought as she moved her head around quickly, trying to escape the orange light. "J-just don't move down. They are still there and you know it," Ninomeena tried to calm herself and once she started breathing slower, she felt some sort of power leaving her body and going up, forming into something above her. But she couldn't see what it was. What form could that strange stream of power take?

And then, when the stream started getting smaller, the orange light started dimming and finally gave Ninomeena back her sight. She found herself at the same place in the forest as before - a few meters off the ground, with three Blood Deer on the ground staring up. But... not at the dark blue little feathered dragon.

Ninomeena looked up as well and found a ceiling of black clouds just a few feet above her. Minor lightning streams appeared and disappeared each second. Dark rain was ready to pour at Ninomeena's command.

"I-I did this, huh?" the dark blue dragon smirked and gestured downwards with her paws. Dark blue, not transparent raindrops fell down in a small radius, but each deer quickly got affected. A poison icon appeared on each of their health bars and the HP slowly started dropping. But Ninomeena got poisoned as well.

But she didn't care for that for now. She felt something still hiding, some more abilities lingering in her memories. Ninomeena felt like there was something more in the clouds. The lightning? Could she possibly control it? The deer seemed lost. They never saw such attacks before. They just seemed to get more and more exhausted as time passed, but their blood-thirsty eyes were still fixated on the dark blue dragon.

"Alright, Ninomeena. Concentrate once again. Even if you get blinded again, don't get scared," the female dragon noticed she had a strange habit of talking to herself, but as long as she was encouraging herself and not making herself panic, it was fine.

She was once again blinded by an orange light. Cracking of thunder was heard just above her and soon, lightning started striking the ground. Startled Blood Deer started a ruckus, but couldn't just flee from the battle, so all they could do was try and avoid the lightning, jumping from one place to another with their long legs.

But that proved to be too difficult. One after the other, the deer got struck multiple times and got paralyzed. Ninomeena could no longer hear their startled noises, so she wanted to stop the attack. But once again, it was not in her control, like with the clouds. The lightning had to achieve a certain goal, but who knew how long would it harm the area and the monsters in it, until it finally reaches the goal and stops itself.

And then Ninomeena understood what the limit was. This giant, uncontrollable attack, had to hit her too, before it could stop and give her back her eyesight. The dark blue feathered dragon's body got paralyzed as well and she fell to the ground, with her wings still frozen in flying movement, as they were risen for another flap the second Ninomeena got struck by lightning.

The Blood Deer seemed eager to attack, seeing their victim paralyzed on the ground, but they were just as paralyzed and their efforts were in vain.

But one thing was for sure: the deer got paralyzed earlier, so that meant they would get out of the paralysis earlier than Ninomeena as well... Unless she gets healed.

"Wow. She is super strong," Lilomeena whispered, hiding with the other little dragons further away in the trees.

"Still, not enough to take them out before she gets into such a vulnerable state," Carith sneered both at his daughter that couldn't win, and at the deer that will hurt her soon. "Be ready to heal her when her health goes down," he warned Fayerin and Lilomeena.

"Yes, father," the pink dragon nodded and so did her mother.

The paralysis proved rather weak, or at least at this level, it only immobilized its targets for a minute. The Blood Deer shook their bodies, quickly getting back full control, and all ran straight towards Ninomeena with their glowing horns. Running in circles, they kept scraping the paralyzed dark blue dragon and leaving red wounds with crystal-like blood floating out.

Ninomeena kept enduring the hits, watching her health bar that quickly depleted, both from the monsters attacks and from the poison. The Blood Deer were still poisoned too though and their health was almost gone. But as long as there was at least a little, they didn't give up. Or maybe they didn't know, how close to death they were. But it wouldn't matter. They didn't have any healing abilities and the poison wouldn't let them get out of this battle alive.

But finally, the Blood Deer that first attacked Ninomeena and got scraped by her claws, dispersed into gorgeous crystals and after a few seconds, the other two followed. Only then the dark blue dragon understood that her paralysis was gone some time ago. Just that the pain given by the her opponents made her completely lose her calm and collected mind. She just curled into a ball and endured the hits until... she won.

The EXP on her level bar quickly climbed and the number that just was 15, changed into 16 and even 17. These monsters had a far higher level than she did, that was obvious. And yet, she still came out victorious.

"Oh yeah!" Ninomeena cheered and flew up to the sky, trying to find her family and waiting for their kind congratulations.

Fayerin and Lilomeena welcomed her with open arms, healing her at the same time as well. Carith seemed proud and even Serouso had an impressed look on his face.

"I've never seen such summoning," Carith admitted when the females separated. "But you can't fight head on when you are using your summoning attacks. That means that you have to be protected when you are at your most powerful state. Well, the rest of us are close-combat fighters mostly, so that won't be a problem," Carith gave an almost invisible smile and looked at Ninomeena's stats. "I see you leveled up nicely. Monsters have less need for EXP to level up and I think that makes us superior," then the green dragon started whispering, like he was saying something forbidden. "Might even mean that the game was created for us and not for humans," nobody could hear what the oldest of the dragons just said, but they understood that Carith just didn't want them to hear. It was simply something he had to say into the world and not let it stay in his head.

"Ninomeena, I think you've had enough training for today," Fayerin smiled at her blue daughter and glanced at the others. "And those humans tired the rest of us out as well. We should get back home. You've been there plenty of times, but only now will you completely understand where you will be. That always surprises me the most after this transformation," the mother yellow dragon slightly giggled, probably remembering how Serouso and Lilomeena acted in that situation.

The little feathered dragons flapped their bright wings and took to the air, flying straight towards the sky. Ninomeena was last of course, watching the rest fly ahead. They flew into the seemingly endless night sky. It was hard to fly almost vertically. But where were they going? The dark blue dragon, shining just a little in the night sky, in comparison to her other family members, couldn't understand at all. But once they were high enough, Carith suddenly vanished into a bright light and each dragon that followed vanished the same. Ninomeena felt scared, but wasn't about to not follow her family, so she closed her eyes and continued flying.

_**Floor 47.**_

A strange sound, as if something shattered into crystals, was heard by her fluffy ears and as she opened her orange eyes, a night sky welcomed her again. But this one seemed different. It wasn't completely clear anymore and had a few clouds.

Ninomeena didn't see her family up ahead anymore, so she looked down and gasped out of surprise. Multicolored flowers, a few of which shone in the darkness, replaced the maze-like rather creepy forest. A few bright colors were moving and the dark blue dragon understood it was her family.

"They aren't keen on waiting it seems," Ninomeena sighed out loud and dived down. She wanted to know how they got here after all.

The dark blue dragon flew as close to the flowers as possible. So many different colors, shapes and sizes. A few flora monsters could be seen as well, but most didn't even pay attention to the passing little dragons. A few humans could be seen too. It seemed no one was afraid to spend their nights in this flowery meadow.

There was a light red colored brick path in the middle of the meadow. It ended on a little hill with a pillar in the middle and from then on, no human paths could be seen. No humans as well. Almost at the edge of the meadow, the dragons descended near a cave that had flowers growing all around it, so it wasn't very visible. From certain angles, you couldn't even think there was something there. It seemed like a little curve of the flowery earth.

The cave was small, but good enough for a family of dragons that curled up next to each other to get some sleep. Even Serouso, though on the side of the group, was leaning against his mother. It seemed like Fayerin was the center of the circle, with all the others lying around her.

Ninomeena felt a strange feeling in her heart. The feeling of safety, love, happiness. She could never feel these things when she was a semi-mindless monster. Why did she suddenly change? Why did anyone suddenly change? What's the point of all of this?

But the little dragon knew no one could possibly answer her. Or at least no one had a good enough clue out of all the intelligent, formerly mindless, creatures she knew.

Well, it seemed it didn't really matter. For now Ninomeena just wanted to get stronger and unlock all of her powers. Seemed like the closest and most interesting goal she could try to achieve.

But, of course, she had never imagined how hard it would actually be.

* * *

**That's the end of chapter 1 ^.^**

**Always loved SAO, but only now came up with a decent story.**

**But honestly, I'm surprised how little info about Aincrad there is. I didn't and won't have any other choice, but to imagine new monsters, floors, etc. But this is fanfiction after all. Imagining stuff is what it's all about ^.^ That's why I can include elemental attacks, which are magic, I guess... which doesn't exist in SAO, at least for players and I couldn't fully understand its deal on monsters.**

**But no, I didn't want to pick Alfheim, if I wanted to use magic. Need this world specifically.**

**Reviews are more than welcome ^.^ Critique, suggestions, praise and similar. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter ^.^**


	2. Alone in a lightning storm

_**Alone in a lightning storm**_

**_Floor 47._**

A clap of thunder woke up all the feathered dragons immediately. Lilomeena shivered and snuggled up to her mother as much as she could to try and lower her fright. Serouso scoffed because of her actions. Because of his sister he had to lose most of his contact with Fayerin, so he simply got up and walked out. He couldn't just push Lilomeena farther away to get more space next to his mother because of more reasons than one. The main one being pride of course.

"Don't stray off," Carith warned his son and continued to sleep as the thunderstorm came closer and rain quickly soaked the meadow around their cave.

"Yeah, yeah," Serouso smirked and flew out to the darkness. Minor streaks of light were shining at the edge of the clouds far away, so it was probably morning or even day. But even the little rays disappeared with time and left the time a mystery.

Serouso was a hot-tempered red creature. He always played with fire, but that didn't mean the rain damaged him. He looked at the never ending cloak of inky clouds and couldn't help but think, if Ninomeena could be able to summon lightning that spread as far as the clouds, which seemed like the entire floor. But he shook his head and flew on. Who cares what his sister can do. She is still not as powerful as him, especially because she is vulnerable when using her most damaging attacks.

Plant monsters seemed to be growing in the rain. Soon the whole meadow was simply crawling with them. Rather dangerous to be near the ground, or on it, with those creatures around. Some even tried to shoot out their extending vines far enough to nab the red dragon in the sky, but Serouso was agile enough to evade and fly even higher.

"Pathetic," he scoffed, thinking if he should go down and teach the monsters a lesson... But he was smart enough to control his hotheadedness at a time when the meadow monsters were popping out everywhere.

A few humans screeched femininely below. Some monsters caught them off guard and the two females with rapiers tried to fight them off as best as they could. They were almost out of health, but a few more humans jumped to their rescue.

Serouso observed everything neutrally. He didn't care if the humans were to die or not, though he was more negative towards them. But still, he didn't wish death for the humans too much. They haven't killed anyone he loved yet, but he knew that it would happen one day, so he kept his distance. Especially because the monster intelligence secret was still not out.

"Look at that red dragon!" someone shouted and Serouso looked down. He didn't even notice how close he was to Floria - the human settlement of the 47th floor. It was time to turn back. He didn't like getting spotted by humans.

*swoosh*

An arrow flew by just an inch away from Serouso's head. He flinched and froze in the sky for a bit, falling down a little, before diving down on purpose to gain more speed to be able to get away.

"How agile! I have to tame it!" another voice shouted out and soon all the people who saw the red dragon started murmuring and the ones that had long-rage weapons started trying to take him down.

Serouso's Scan ability wasn't only useful for locating monsters. In the darkness and with the red dragon's back turned nonetheless, his eyes glowed green, making him understand the presence of every single thing in a kilometer's range. Arrows, spears, anything flying towards him were not hard to evade at all. But when a Paradise Bird was sent after him, the situation changed a little.

The colorful rainbow bird with a sharp beak and even a sharper screech was ordered to retrieve Serouso. Its intelligence was higher than a regular monster's, but far behind Serouso's, there was no doubt.

There was no use to try and race the tamed creature, so Serouso breathed in deeply and, after evading a head-on attack from the bird, sank his claws into the creature's body and breathed out a magnificent fire blast right on the monster's body. The bird screeched with his feathers burning so hot, even the rain couldn't extinguish them immediately. The tamed creature started falling, giving Serouso more than enough time to escape.

Of course he didn't want to kill the Paradise Bird. This one can have memories, because it was tamed and maybe even got attached to its owner, so it won't spawn back completely the same, like the other monsters. Of course, even if it dies, it can be revived in this very floor with a Pneuma flower, but maybe its owner is a heartless bastard that won't bring it back to life. Serouso couldn't know, so he let the creature live. Who knows, maybe it will be a valuable asset for them - the AI monsters.

Serouso kept Scanning, so he knew a few more flying monsters were sent after him, but he was too fast for them. Though there actually was the fastest creature in Aincrad - the Spiked Cheetah - running below the red dragon. The blue one had long, sharp spikes on his back that he could let down to achieve maximum speed and raise them for devastating attacks. Also, he was obviously male, because females were more purple in color than blue, but the speed between the genders was the same.

It was very easy for the spiked creature to keep up with Serouso, so the dragon knew he couldn't fly back home with the tamed monster on his tail.

The only chance left for Serouso to escape was to fly up to the other floors. But they might be even more dangerous, if he's not careful enough. When he gets to another floor, he will appear just above another town after all, so the whole situation could simply repeat itself.

But it was better than leading that Cheetah to his family. Serouso breathed in deeply and flew into the dark clouds that kept releasing water from them. The red dragon could tell the Spiked Cheetah had the Scanning ability as well and that made the tamed monster even more dangerous. No other choice left but to change floors.

Serouso flew up vertically, pierced the clouds, and appeared in the morning sky. But just before he would be transported to the next floor, or any of the floors of his choosing, he heard loud thunder. He stopped and looked down. Lightning was flashing like crazy, not like before. Only one creature could do that. And now she was defenseless.

"Damn it, Ninomeena!" Serouso growled and dove down, piercing the clouds like an arrow. He needed to not only keep Ninomeena safe from the monsters and tamed creatures, but also to not let lightning hit him and paralyze him, leaving him defenseless as well.

In the darkness of a rainy day, Ninomeena was still shining blue enough for Serouso to spot her immediately. She was flying about ten meters off the ground, but for those plant monsters with vines, that distance was simply a joke. And the red dragon even spotted some targeting his sister.

Without a second thought, Serouso got to his sister and started flying around her at top speed, sending a Fire Tornado, spreading from his wings, down to any creatures bellow. The plants and even the Spiked Blue Cheetah got a taste of the fire and got back, almost simultaneously getting hit by lightning. The threat was gone for as long as the paralysis lasts. Serouso stopped his Fire Tornado, caught Ninomeena with his front paws and started flying away with her. He would have flown up, above the dangerous clouds, but he understood he wouldn't be strong enough to fly up with a sister that was almost the same weight as he was.

The lightning flashed unrelentingly. The sky seemed even bright from all those giant flashes.

_"When the lightning hits me and carries over to Ninomeena, the storm will end and we will both be paralyzed,"_ Serouso thought and stared into the distance, observing anything his Scanning ability could reach, as if his concentration would prolong their time until lightning struck them. Serouso just hoped they could get away enough to reach at least a little safer place. Or even fly far enough for their family to spot them. They are bound to be worried after all.

...But Serouso was surprised just how worried about Ninomeena he was himself. The blue dragon, blinded by orange lights and held in his paws seemed like the most important thing to save right now. Serouso didn't even sink his nails into her, because he didn't want to hurt her, though she would be held more securely like that.

"Thanks, Serouso," Ninomeena was obviously happy. She flew here because she was worried about her brother and now she understood, that the red dragon that seemed to maybe even hate her a little, doesn't hate her enough to not try and save her.

"...Mother and father would kill me if I told them that I left you there. I had no choice," after a pause during which Serouso came up with a good enough excuse, the red dragon scoffed. But Ninomeena's smile didn't disappear. Serouso's tone was different, a little tense maybe. Does his voice sound like that when he is lying?

*zap*

A strong lightning finally reached the dragons and electrocuted them both. Now both of them were helpless and were falling straight down with their bodies completely frozen. At least the lightning storm ceased and only the rain continued.

Serouso's Scanning ability was still turned on. He knew no tamed monsters were close, but he still sensed a few regular monsters that managed to evade the lightning summoned from the dark clouds. And now, as the lightning seized, there was no chance these creatures would get paralyzed. But maybe those plant monsters won't attack the two bright, unmoving creatures...?

Yeah, that expectation didn't seem like something to bet on.

A hissing Bloom Snake moved in closer to the two paralyzed dragons. The flower on the green snake's head, that resembled a crown, pulsated in red colors, as the monster was getting closer to its next victim. The flower represent the snake's blood lust that shined in its red eyes as well.

Serouso looked straight at the snake, with his sister fallen by his side. Ninomeena was unable to see her enemy due to the lying on the side pose she was paralyzed in. She guessed that the monsters in this floor were even stronger than in the floor she fought those Blood Deer. And yet, could a single Bloom Snake possibly kill two dragons in the amount the paralysation lasts? There was no way to evade that experiment.

"...More are coming," Serouso whispered to his sister. The Bloom Snake's hissing called others to its aid. "...Hang in there."

"M," Ninomeena would have nodded if she could. Now even she saw the blood thirsty monsters coming from all directions. Their red flowers pulsated in the darkness that was finally receding. The morning rain was stopping. And then the blue dragon remembered what she could do.

Her eyes started glowing orange once more. But she had to do something more complicated, than simple Poison Rain. She needed to be able to control it, to not hurt herself, or her brother. They didn't have health to spare this time. The power stream went straight up to the diminishing clouds, not stopping anywhere lower, like it did in the forest a few floors below, and started filling the clouds up again. The raindrops that started falling down now were more purple than regular, clear ones.

And yet Ninomeena still felt the raindrops falling on her feathers. No poisoning yet, but it was only a matter of time. Serouso was probably on the verge of getting poisoned as well. Ninomeena knew no one would heal them now.

But the moment the dark blue dragon concentrated and tried to take more control over the Poison Rain, her head started hurting unbearably and she screeched. She had imagined the orange light that was blinding her as the rain's radius and tried to make a sort of a hole in the middle, where she and Serouso probably had to be, but even though she managed to make a very tiny hole for a split second, the pain that kicked in immediately after made her lose all of her concentration. This huge power was not hers to control. She could only summon it and suffer like everyone else.

"What's happening, Ninomeena?!" Serouso yelled, not being able to turn his head to see what was happening to his sister. _"Don't die on me,"_ the red one thought to himself. He didn't like the concern he had for the dark blue dragon, but it was not in his ability to control it or to erase it fully.

A poison icon ultimately appeared on each and every creature that got touched by the rain. It seemed that as far as the clouds spread, the rain everywhere was made poisonous. Maybe that was another reason for the immense pain Ninomeena got once she tried to control the rain. Did the people in the town also get poisoned? If so, who do they think is responsible? There was no way they would think that a tiny blue feathered dragon was the cause of this poisonous rain, that's for sure.

Finally the rain started ending and Ninomeena got back her eyesight, though the pain still lingered. The Bloom Snakes didn't seem in pain though and just finally started biting the helpless dragons. It seemed the paralysation was longer than last time. Maybe because so many clouds were used. So much power.

Thunderous galloping could be heard heading in the surrounded dragons' direction. Two Lightning Gazelles, with horns shaped like lightning and of the same bright color with white as snow coats. Their speed was amazing when they were running below a thunder storm and though this one was ending, the Gazelles were still very fast.

Two riders jumped off of their tamed beasts and readied their weapons.

"Hey, Vorus, look! A horde of Bloom Snakes! And they are all poisoned," a familiar blond human started to think up an attack plan.

"Yeah, but look what's in the middle," Vorus smirked and his green blade started shining. "We need to kill all these Bloom Snakes before those two die! Come on, Ceracus!"

"Right!" Ceracus' dark hammer started shining as well and the two players went on a killing frenzy.

The Bloom Snakes had a tendency to focus only on their first target or targets and now were left confused, when flung away by a sword or a hammer. They had high health, but with the added poison, the sound of their shattering bodies filled the air. Of course most finally attacked the humans, but the weapons were more than enough protection, for the snakes were pretty slow. Except when they lunged themselves into their prey.

The horde got smaller and smaller until finally only two humans and two dragons remained. Ceracus got two cages out of his bag and slowly approached the creatures.

"I wonder why are they paralyzed. Bloom Snakes don't have the ability to do that. Only poison," the blond male questioned Serouso's and Ninomeena's condition as he carefully stuffed them into the little, now metal cages with yellow stripes. "I-I'll heal them a little. With the poison they will die."

"Yeah, go ahead. They are caged anyway. Just use Antidote Crystals on them and get on your Gazelle," Vorus commanded, as he got on his ride. "The rumors about the red dragon were true. And we even managed to get the blue one as well! I'm so glad communication in this world is so fast. But wait!" as Vorus was about to ride off, he turned around to Ceracus, who was fastening the cages to separate sides of his Lightning Gazelle's saddle, with both dragons healed just enough for them to stay alive. "Where are the rest of the dragons?!"

"Vorus, we should be glad we got even two," Ceracus jumped onto his Gazelle and encouraged it to slowly walk, so he would be next to Vorus. "Remember what happened when the yellow one was caught? All the others simply broke it out. There's no use risking it."

"Since when are you so calm and collected?" Vorus became irritated. He was supposed to be the one that says what they have to do, not Ceracus, the cowardly teen. But the green armored human didn't want to blow this one more time because of his hot-temper so he just scoffed and encouraged his Gazelle to run towards the city.

Two dragons felt their cages hitting the Gazelle's body every few moments and that made them feel conscious just a little. But these cages were not simply metal. The yellow color, intertwined with the dark and cold grey, seemed to be giving off paralysis. Just their luck that the humans managed to get these advanced cages today.

None of the dragons could possibly talk, to find out if they were still together, because they didn't want to blow their intelligence secret. The minor growling they could possibly let out was no match for the sound the Lightning Gazelle's galloping let out.

But they knew they were together. Some kind of link, some kind of bond. Was it because they were family?

The dark clouds finally left the 47th floor. The sun was shining down on all the meadows, the monsters, the buildings and the humans. It turned into a nice day.

But of course, when you suddenly appear in an auction for rare items, though you are a living, breathing creature, it doesn't matter how nice the day is, when your freedom gets taken away just like that and you can never be sure what horrid event could happen next.

* * *

**I'm glad the first chapter was welcomed so warmly ^.^ I hope that will happen for my other chapters as well.**

**I put in a minor cliffhanger. I wonder if Ninomeena and Serouso could possibly be saved. Well, their family can't just fly into the city, find the two and get them out without consequences, that's for sure.**

**Review ^.^**


	3. Belonging to a stranger

_**Belonging to a stranger**_

_**Floor 47. **__**Floria.**_

Nothing but multicolored flowers everywhere you look. The main human settlement in the 47th floor lived up to its name. Floria was separated from the giant flowery meadow, covering the entire floor, by a ring of columns that formed arks together at their tops. A beautiful fountain stood in the center of the town with paths going in four directions from it. Floria didn't have houses or shops or any other buildings whatsoever, but that meant there was much space for concerts, shows or even auctions.

And as luck would have it, Vorus and Ceracus finally had enough items to open up a new auction. All the small and large, light and heavy items were squishing the fuschia-colored flowers below them.

"This wonderful obsidian jewel is from none other but the ginormous Obsidian Dragon itself, people! It is worth much more than what is currently offered! Don't let others get this gorgeous thing almost for free!" Vorus had a talent in shouting at people and it helped in events like these very much. The Obsidian jewel was mostly wanted by weapon crafters and it was really not a cheap knickknack, but the ones that manage to actually see the Obsidian dragon, know that it's no bigger than a grownup human. And the jewel is nothing else than... the dragon's feces, which are left around its nest. And there are usually plenty of them. But the jewel still had many brilliant attributes, so it didn't really matter where it came from.

Around 30 people stood around, thinking on what to spend their money, or if anything was even worth it, but everything seemed authentic and the items sparkled, inviting people to buy them. That sparkling was a little trick Ceracus and Vorus came up with. Not too much and not too little, to make it look like the sparkling is real, like the items were truly special. Looked like pixie dust, when you think about it.

One of the crafters couldn't refuse Vorus' encouragements and finally raised his hand. The price shot up to 10 000 Cor and Vorus shot a giant smile in the crafter's way. It was a little creepy. Maybe it was the greed.

No one else wanted to offer a higher price. They expected Vorus to have more items like that that would be more worth the Cor.

"Ceracus! On with the next item!" Vorus shouted to the blond male that just finished the transaction with the crafter. Ceracus sighed, thinking how Vorus could actually do everything himself and not make him look like a servant, but there was no need for a scene for now. The items could be stolen while they argue.

Ceracus decided it was time to offer up the dragons that were sparkling at the top of the item pile. Many people kept starring at them. These pretties will surely offer a lot of money to their captors.

"Now these are freshly caught Little Feathered Dragons!" Vorus was hyped. Greed shone in his eyes even brighter. "Just look at that pure, bright color! And let me tell you, these dragons even pack quite a punch and have a lot of health! I had to test them out myself of course, before I caught them!" Vorus bragged.

"Hey! Vorus!" Ceracus sneered. The blond one was the one to technically catch them after all.

"O-oh right! I couldn't have done it without my partner Ceracus!" the green armored bargainer stuttered. He always forgot that Ceracus might get fed up with his egoistic character and leave him to hunt everything by himself. Honestly, these two were a great pair. It would be a shame if they went their separate ways. "Anyway, let's start with the blue dragon first. A 1000 Cor!" Vorus offered. He thought that it would be more profitable, if the dragons were sold separately.

"A thousand!" at least three hands rose and those people shouted the price almost at the same time, but Vorus had keen eyes and spotted the one that was the last one.

"You, sir, were the last one! So 3000 Cor? For this gorgeous thing?!" Vorus came up to Ninomeena and raised her head up. The little one slowly opened her orange eyes.

_"What's happening?"_ she thought as she observed the people in front of her and quietly growled. Immediately a few feminine squeals echoed through the plaza. Cute begging at their affections followed.

A few sighs later, more hands rose. The price finally ended up at 15 000 Cor. Ninomeena understood she will be given away for the highest price. She tried turning her head to find Serouso, but the paralysis kept her from doing that and she just sighed. If Serouso was awake, he probably was looking at all those people with contempt.

How far apart will they end up? Where's the rest of the family? Ninomeena felt like crying. What if the person who gets her will be mean? What if the person will get her away from this floor and hide her where her family will surely not be able to find her?

A tear ran down Ninomeena's cheek. This time feminine gasps, not squeals, could be heard. But that made the girls ask for the dragon even more, so they could take care of her. Five more thousand Cor added up to the price and Vorus was about to sell Ninomeena, but suddenly a dark, cloaked and hooded person called a new price.

"30 000 Cor!" probably a male teen, hiding under a dark cloak that seemed to even emit dark fog, left all the other buyers in the dust. No one knew if those dragons were really worth the money. They could be weaklings that will die instantly, for all they could now. And after all, there was one more dragon left and probably no other random person will come, offering an impressive sum, so Ninomeena was sold for 30 000 Cor.

After the transition, the cloaked player took the paralyzing cage with the dark blue dragon inside and immediately teleported to another floor. Ninomeena's hopes of being rescued or at least found, shattered just like that.

_**Floor 27. Ronbaru.**_

The town was mostly abandoned. Most players tried to keep up with the front lines or at least be only a few floors behind and, as the main battles were happening on the 50th floor, the 27th floor had been turned into a wasteland. But it was beautiful, anyone could see that.

The town was carved out of a mountain. Giant blue crystals still shone in the mountain and would have given Ronbaru the feel of a town lit only by moonlight, if there weren't dim yellow lights situated all around the town. It was always dark in the "night elf" themed town and it was honestly a perfect hiding place.

The dark player quickly walked out of the town, through the columns that connected at their tops, just like in Floria, and leaned against one of the columns so that he could only be visible from the forest's side. He removed his hood, thinking that he was safe and revealed dark, a little curly hair and black eyes.

Finally, he opened Ninomeena's cage and took out the blue dragon that shone with a darker color than the crystals in the mountain. She knew she could try to make a run for it when the paralysis wears off, but for now she was just held by the scruff, completely helpless and in the mercy of a dark stranger.

"I'm looking for a specific dragon. I can only remember that it was the same color as you, but I can't be sure if you're the right one. I'll keep you until I figure it out," the human explained, but Ninomeena didn't understand if he was talking to her, or to himself. He couldn't have known that the dragon can understand him, right? Maybe he just felt that in this lonesome place, he can say his thoughts out loud.

The human sat down and let go of both the cage and Ninomeena. After he searched for something in his Items, he summoned a few peanuts and observed them.

"I heard these ones let you tame the Little Feathered Dragons. But you're still paralyzed, so you can't even eat it..." the human conjured a crystal in his hand from his Item menu and healed Ninomeena's paralysis, before offering her the peanuts.

Ninomeena regained the control over her body and finally got her chance to run... but she still didn't have much health. It was dangerous to travel to heaven knows which floor, where she could possibly find her family, with so little HP left.

_"Maybe those peanuts will help me regain health,"_ Ninomeena hoped and slowly approached the human's hand. She kept staring at the boy's dark eyes. They didn't seem evil or untrustworthy. At least she hoped they weren't. She couldn't think straight when she was so weak.

After taking a whiff and understanding that the peanuts smell delicious, Ninomeena carefully took a few peanuts from the human's hand and ate them. Sadly, her health wasn't regained, but she felt something different.

A menu popped up in front of the dark human and he pressed something on it.

Then the dark blue dragon understood what just happened and she backed away in disbelief... but the feelings that made her want to run away faded with every step she took. She was tamed.

Suddenly the human leaned forwards and petted Ninomeena. "There, there. If you help me with something, I will set you free. Alright?"

Ninomeena slowly nodded. There was no more wish to get away from the human, but something about being free was still lingering. She purred. It was nice to be petted.

"I-I'm sorry, but could I pet her as well?" a female voice sneaked up on the two and made them both flinch. The dark human immediately stood up and Ninomeena flew up to his shoulder, sending out a little startled screech.

The girl had dark blue hair, just a little darker than Ninomeena's feathers. Her whole outfit, consisting out of a short armored dress and long boots was mostly blue. Only her skin's whiteness and a few bright colors on her outfit interrupted the blueness. Both Ninomeena and the still cloaked teen knew what the girl ultimately wanted.

"Yeah. I guess you can," the human moved his shoulder towards the girl, gesturing Ninomeena to fly off to the bluenette.

The girl's blue eyes sparkled like the stars, as Ninomeena slowly flapped her wings and moved forward. Carefully, the girl raised her hand and petted the dragon's head. She purred this time as well. That was the last straw of cuteness for the girl that tried to control herself. Ninomeena quickly got trapped in the squealing girl's arms.

"You are the cutest thing ever!" the girl swooned.

"Hey, hey. I'm sorry, but she's mine," the dark human yanked Ninomeena out of the girl's hands and summoned the menu for the dragon.

The girl was left almost broken-hearted, but the boy didn't care.

"So I need to raise you ten more levels, huh?" the boy read something about Ninomeena. "Well then, let's get started. I don't want my investment to be for nothing," the dark human got out another teleportation crystal and was about to go, but the girl suddenly put her hands on the boy's hand that held the crystal.

"Please, I'll pay anything you want, just let me have her," the girl's eyes sparkled from tears. Even Ninomeena felt like she would want to give herself up to the girl, if that meant not letting her cry.

"...Fine. I'll give her to you when she served her purpose to me, deal? I'll message you when that happens," the dark one sent her a friend request, so he could contact her later. Ninomeena felt a little tricked, though. Didn't this human just say that he will let her go free when she "serves her purpose". But Ninomeena felt like she couldn't even be mad at her master. She had to do everything he says. Such forced feelings and yet so powerful.

"...'Darkboy'? That's a strange nickname," the girl giggled once she read her new friend's info. "Well, mine is also out of two words, so I guess it's not _that_ strange."

"'Nekoangel'? ...Yeah, yours is weirder," the boy slightly insulted the girl and, after sending out a smirk, teleported to another floor.

"...That little!" Neko scoffed and opened her friends' list. "But now I know exactly where he and that adorably perfect blue dragon is," she smirked and used her teleportation crystal as well.

* * *

_"...Ninomeena is gone. I don't even have an idea to where. Damn it! If I ever escape, mom will kill me for losing her! Everyone will say it's my fault! Damn you, Ninomeena!"_ Serouso cursed in his mind as his price was still rising at the auction.

Ultimately, he was sold for 12 000 Cor. Finally, one of the girls, who had white hair and a white dress, made her poor boyfriend buy her the red little feathered dragon. Serouso managed to smirk.

_"No one can possibly control me,"_ he thought as he was taken out of the paralyzation cage by the girl. _"Once I get back my body control, I'm out of here."_

"He's is so precious. Thank you so much, darling," the girl kissed her boyfriend, with white armor, on the cheek and hugged Serouso tightly. "We need to tame it quickly. Do you have those peanuts? I'm so glad that girl with a bright blue dragon told everyone how to tame these creatures."

"Yeah, I think I do," the boy searched for the peanuts in his Items and found some. "Have quite a few".

The girl smiled, happy to hear the good news and the two humans and the paralyzed dragon teleported to another city, probably to rent a room, so the dragon wouldn't have any opportunities to escape and would be tamed for sure. Both of the humans saw that Serouso was a little... hostile, by the smirks he kept sending out, even in his paralyzed state. Occasional mean growling could also be heard.

A pink dragon, hiding on top of one of the conjunctions of the columns, sighed. "They're both gone. I couldn't save them," Lilomeena saw how both Ninomeena and Serouso were teleported to who knows where. She tried to come up with descent plans, but her siblings were taken away so fast. "If only daddy was here. He would have been brave enough to swoop in and rescue both of them."

Lilomeena looked at the spots she last saw her sister and brother and flew away. Her pink color was not so protruding in the day sky, as it would be in the night or in a dark storm, and yet it was still dangerous. But of course, she didn't care.

Her vision became blurry from the tears slowly appearing in her eyes, but what could they help now? _"Why am I so cowardly?!"_ Lilomeena screeched out in her mind.

* * *

The cave now only contained three dragons. When the pink one returned with her face devastated as it was, both Fayerin and Carith understood what had happened.

Just an hour ago Lilomeena offered to go look for her siblings, begging none of the parents to help her and they let her fly off on her own. Now everyone knew that was a mistake, but the past couldn't be changed now.

Fayerin hugged her whimpering daughter. "Everything will be fine, my darling. We will find them, don't worry. Our colors shine brightly and we will spot each other in no time," the yellow dragon calmed Lilomeena. She knew their family would be back together one way or another. They all had a bond that was obviously still not broken. Although Fayerin did feel a little weird about Ninomeena. Something important happened to her, although the memory of Serouso was fine. He was still not as affected by something, like Ninomeena was. "We better not waste time. I think both of them are in the lower floors for now," Fayerin hoped to find both of her children as fast as possible.

Carith and Lilomeena nodded and the trio flew up to the sky, straight from their cave. As the mother, Fayerin knew she had the best connection to all of her children and her love - Carith, but Ninomeena seemed to be drifting further away every second. Something was incredibly wrong. Fayerin just hopped they won't be too late.

* * *

**I'm more fond of short chapters, but I will probably make them as long as when the nearest cliffhanger appears ^.^'**

**So the family was separated quite drastically. I'm not too worried about Serouso though, but Ninomeena got herself in quite a lot of trouble... Well, only time (and I, hehe) will tell what happens to them all.**

**Review ^.^**


	4. Trapped

_**Trapped**_

**_Floor 48. Lindarth._**

A calm and peaceful medieval village welcomed players in need of items that can mostly be crafted only by support-skill users, for there were many shops, armories, tailors and etc. in this little town. For the players that were getting ready to fight the 50th floor's boss, it was necessary to get only the best equipment possible. And who could equip humans better, than other humans that use their imagination and rare items to craft never before seen wonders.

But of course, Serouso's buyers didn't need items or equipment. Their top priority was to tame the red Little Feathered Dragon. They rented a room in one of Lindarth's inns and set down Serouso, still caged, on a small table in the middle of the room. The white-haired girl had the peanuts she got from her boyfriend ready in her palm and the armored boy was ready to take out Serouso and use a healing crystal on him, to remove the paralysis.

"Ready?" the white-armored boy asked, reaching out to the cage's lock.

"Ready," the girl nodded and stepped closer. She will probably have to catch the hostile little dragon creature.

_"Ready,"_ Serouso thought as well. He wasn't sure how he could escape, but he will obviously do it, if it's the last thing he does.

The cage's grated doors popped open and Serouso was gently taken out with the crystal starting to heal him almost simultaneously. The red dragon breathed in, unnoticeably checking every inch of his body and if whether he can control all the parts.

"Hey, little guy. Just look at these nuts that we got just for you. They are simply delicious," the girl carefully got closer to the dragon, slowly extending her palm with the nuts towards Serouso.

_"Should I pretend? They will probably let their guard down if I do,"_ Serouso thought as he also slowly stretched out his neck together with his head, towards the nuts. _"But they do smell fantastic,"_ an uneasy thought flew around in the dragon's mind. _"What would happen if I ate these? Can the result honestly be that bad?"_ Serouso started reassuring himself that tasting the nuts would be just an innocent experience.

"Come on, little guy. These are your favorite, aren't they?" the girl kept calling Serouso, but she had a rather unpleasant high-pitched voice that made the red dragon snap out of it a little and think.

_"My favorite? I have never tasted these before... Wait! They said that these peanuts let humans tame Little Feathered Dragons! That is their plan! I will not fall for it!"_ suddenly Serouso's curious face changed into a hostile one and he cut the girl's hand with his Fire Slash. It simply got blocked though, because fighting was not allowed in town... Neither were monsters of course, but somehow, Serouso was there, in one of Lindarth's inns.

The dragon flapped his wings and summoned a fiery vortex that was also blocked by an invisible force and the humans or the room didn't get hurt at all, but the fire did act as a distraction. With Serouso's Scanning ability, the fire was mostly invisible to him, because the ability tracked only living beings. He could see through the fire and found the nearest window. With no time to waste, Serouso simply used another Fire Slash, cutting the window with both of his claws, and broke out of the room, destroying the window and letting the glass shatter and fall to the ground outside.

Now all Serouso had to do was flap his wings as fast as he can, to reach such heights that no one could reach him and finally, when he crosses a certain boundary in the sky, teleport home.

Screams of the girl with the white dress faded with every passing second. People with tamed flying monsters set them out to capture the escaping dragon, but none came even close and Serouso disappeared at the end of the sky of the 48th floor.

* * *

_**Floor 46. Ant Hill.**_

The 46th floor's dungeon welcomed Darkboy and Ninomeena, who was curiously sniffing the air while she was laying on Darkboy's shoulders. This dungeon, called Ant Hill, was rumored to be the place where it's the most easiest to get EXP in the whole discovered game. But because so many players level grinded in there, there was a limit. A player can only earn EXP for an hour and then a two hour timeout follows. Even if you beat the Ant queen, a sort of mini-boss of the Ant Hill, you won't get any EXP if you killed her during the cooldown.

"Venomous ants spawn in this dungeon, but even if their attack seems impressive, their HP is nothing alarming," Darkboy explained a little, but once again Ninomeena couldn't understand to whom he was talking to. "I'm hoping we can raise your level at least by one every hour in between the cooldowns, or even more. You are only level 17 after all. Those ants here are about level 30 or more, if we go down the dungeon."

Darkboy entered the dark dungeon with Ninomeena still on his shoulders. That "taming" made the little dragon even attached. She felt best when she was as close as possible to her master... But if she is like this now, how can she possibly escape to her family?

For now, Ninomeena thought that she will just try to level up those 10 levels the dark-dressed human wanted her to. Maybe if she asks nicely, her master will set her free, instead of actually giving her to that blue-haired girl.

A few torches lighted the walls of a rather wide, dark corridor. Many big caves could be seen on either side of the corridor and strange hissing could be heard from them.

"Get ready. I will help you as little as I have to," Darkboy turned his head to look Ninomeena in the orange eyes. The little one gulped and took off from her master's shoulders. Like on cue, three gigantic ants from both sides ran to welcome new level grinders.

Ninomeena made both of her claws glow blue and started flying around, scratching any part she could reach on the ants. The giant insects could spit toxic mucus, but as they couldn't keep up with the agile dragon, Ninomeena didn't have what to fear.

Until one of the ants managed to bite her tail and the dark blue dragon immediately fell with a short screech. Darkboy was preoccupied with other ants and didn't even notice his pet's scream, because of all the hissing ringing through everyone's ears.

Other ants around Ninomeena started biting her wings, arms and legs. Both front claws glowed blue and did some damage, but ultimately Ninomeena was the one to get the most health down.

*screech*

Ninomeena couldn't just yell out 'help me!' so she had to stay with monstrous noises. But even that didn't get Darkboy's attention. Ants had him cornered and even out of Ninomeena's sight. Only the sound of something blunt but heavy hitting the monsters and something pointy and thin flying through the air and piercing the ants sometimes, could make one understand there was a human somewhere there. A human that couldn't help his new tamed monster.

_"Can I summon Poisonous Rain?"_ a thought flashed in Ninomeena's head. _"But can the clouds actually be made in time?"_

A crimson color took yellow's place on the dragon's health bar. She was trapped with no body part being able to move apart from her head. And she didn't feel like she had any attacks similar to her brother's Fire Breath.

_"So this is how I die... Not a day as I belong to a human... Not even a few days since I'm able to understand the gigantic and beautiful world better..."_ a tiny tear ran down Ninomeena's cheek, traveling down a few ants' body parts before reaching the ground.

*drop*

*slash*

A sharp spear slashed a few ants in half with one swing. The rest disappeared as well in just a few more slashes.

Ninomeena was caught by the scruff by a human hand and, once she got wrapped in someone's arms, got carried out of the cave, with the human dashing and jumping over any obstacles.

The two escaped the dungeon. Finally, the human raised Ninomeena to her face.

"I'm so glad I found you in time," Nekoangel was out of breath and seemed like she was about to cry. "Those ants that surrounded you made it hard to see your pure and shining blue color, but I finally spotted you," the blue-haired girl embraced the little dragon, who felt rather confused.

_"How did she know I'm here? Why did she risk her own health for me?"_ Ninomeena thought as she saw that Nekoangel's health had gone down to half. She must have fought a lot of ants before finding her in that giant, cave-filled corridor. A sea of ants against two humans and a Little Feathered Dragon was clearly too much.

"Here, drink this," Nekoangel gave Ninomeena some kind of potion and the dark blue creature drank it all without even thinking. Her health was back to full. Nekoangel smiled at Ninomeena's trust and drank a potion herself as well. "We should find your master. He might be looking for you. Don't leave my side, alright?" the girl pleaded and Ninomeena nodded, flying onto Nekoangel's shoulders. "You... you are such a precious and adorable creature," the blue-haired girl petted the dragon's head and made her purr.

* * *

"H-hey, where are you?!" Darkboy finally managed to find a save spot somewhere high up. His dark bow and arrows where ready to shoot anyone that posed a threat. But for now he was just concerned about that dark blue dragon. "Don't tell me I let you die..." Darkboy let down his bow out of despair.

No sight of any blueness. There were no other sounds present, but the hissing of ants. He remembered he heard screeching. Was that his tamed monster? Did she cry out in her last moments and he couldn't help her?

But then another thought came to his mind. Tamed monsters leave Hearts after themselves if they get killed! There had to be a dark blue shining Heart somewhere around here!

Darkboy jumped down and started zooming through the hordes of various sized toxic ants, shooting the ones that were in his way with the arrows that reappeared in the bow by themselves. Of course, Darkboy's size and lack of incredible speed made him quite an easy target for the nearby ants and he got damaged pretty badly as he ran around the first floor of Ant Hill.

But there was no sign of anything like a Heart. Darkboy found a safe zone near the end of the dungeon's first floor and tried to rethink where could his monster be as he drank a healing potion. He checked his bag, but no new important items were present, only a few item drops from the ants. Finally, he opened the menu for the little blue dragon and read everything thoroughly.

"...You have a name?" Darkboy was surprised to find a name written in small letter under "Little Feathered Dragon". If one wasn't paying attention, one would probably easily miss those letters. "Ninomeena," the darkly dressed human read out loud and smiled. "Not bad."

Suddenly, he noticed a strange note symbol, pulsating at the side of Ninomeena's profile. Hoping it's some sort of "calling" option, he pressed the note and a chime echoed through the safe zone and probably into the dungeon.

Almost immediately, Darkboy heard a screech not far away. He instantly dashed out of the safe zone, straight towards the source of the screeching. His eyes quickly locked on to a dark blue flying dragon with orange eyes and a blue-haired girl running after her.

When master and monster met once again, Ninomeena started flying around Darkboy in a circle, joyously screeching before landing on his shoulders. Ninomeena didn't understand by the slightest why was she so happy to see the dark-haired human again, but she had stopped questioning herself. She understood she couldn't ever completely explain it anyway.

Finally, all three could escape the dungeon filled with ants and catch a breather right outside. Ninomeena's level had gone up a little, because of the EXP gained from Nekoangel's slayed ants, but because the girl inflicted most of the damage, Ninomeena didn't get as much EXP. Or maybe she had to share it with her master.

_**Floor 46. Anteru.**_

Evening had come and Darkboy, Nekoangel and Ninomeena returned to 46th's floors town, named Anteru. It was named so because of its dungeon - Ant Hill. It was the only dungeon that contained ant monsters such as those. Luckily, Anteru didn't have ants, or any other monsters for that matter, inside. Only a few sculptures of ants carved from rocks, maybe even from the dungeon, stood in a circle in the center plaza. The whole town was in a medieval style and consisted mostly of brown colors. The houses were two floors high at most and had roofs made out of hay, or at least it seemed like it. The narrow streets were brick-lined with mostly grey bricks.

But even if the town wasn't that big, it was simply packed. Many parties ventured into the dungeon that offered much EXP. They went down through all the levels to find and slay the Ant Queen. Most players didn't even bother staying in the first floor, but when one is almost alone and can't beat the never ending hordes of ants, sneaking out of the caves, even the first floor is pretty dangerous.

"You should really not let her out of your sight," Nekoangel pouted, as the three of them had a quick dinner in one of the inns of Anteru. "Honestly, she was in a dire situation," the blue-haired girl reached out to Ninomeena, who was eating her favorite peanuts on the table, and petted her. Both Darkboy and Nekoangel had some of those peanuts and both offered them to the dark blue dragon for dinner, maybe to win her affection or to apologize. Anyway, it worked and Ninomeena was as happy as ever, with the simple feelings she only had left that almost seemed to prohibit her from thinking sad thoughts about her family, for example.

"I admit it was close. Thank you for saving Ninomeena, Nekoangel," Darkboy didn't seem actually sorry or thankful and he didn't even raise his eyes, as he continued to eat a meat sandwich.

"I-I don't really care if you thank me or not, but at least admit it's dangerous for Ninomeena to stay with you! She won't last until she serves you that purpose you are waiting for!" Nekoangel shouted out and most of the eyes in the inn turned to her. But not Darkboy's. Nekoangel felt flustered with all that attention, but she was doing this for a very important reason. She lowered her tone. "L-listen... Let's form a party until you don't need Ninomeena anymore. I-I just don't want anything bad happening to her, alright? I'll take care of her fully. But of course I won't steal her, if that crossed your mind."

"It didn't. I can call her back anytime. But I guess it wouldn't hurt if you looked after her a little," finally, the dark-haired male raised his eyes and stared at Nekoangel's. The blue-haired girl felt strange when she met Darkboy's stare. Managing to only stare back a few seconds, she lowered her eyes and quickly ate her meat sandwich. Darkboy scoffed. "Figured you can't hold eye contact with how your voice trembles. Well, it doesn't matter," the male player summoned his menu and sent a party request to the girl sitting on the other side of the table.

Nekoangel's eyes glistened as she immediately pressed the little blue outline of a circle that meant acceptance. Now she was in the same party as the little dark blue dragon. She could even see her stats on the top left corner of her field of vision and she will be able to now when to exactly heal her. Darkboy's stats were there as well, of course, but he didn't interest the blue girl that much. Though she did notice that the dark-haired guy's level was a little higher than hers. While Ninomeena was far behind both of them.

But now Nekoangel will be able to help her safely level up. Soon, the tamed monster will reach her master's wished level and, maybe after some sort of quest, or similar, Ninomeena will belong solely to Nekoangel. The girl squeed quietly at the thought. Her very own Little Feathered, and most importantly - dark blue, Dragon.

* * *

**Well, no cliff-hanger this time ^.^' Oh well. At least Ninomeena didn't die.**

**Anteru was the first major thing I had to "create", as only Ant Hill is mentioned in the 46th floor. The name is completely not original and the town is simply plain, but I figured that nothing pompous should be near such a dungeon. **

**Now Nekoangel will spend a lot of time with Ninomeena. I can only say that one not very good thing will emerge because of that, hehe.**

**Review ^.^**


	5. Quest unlocked

_**Quest unlocked**_

**_Floor 47._**

Three feathered dragons returned home after an exhausting day of searching. All that flying was fruitless and even though they searched through the entire day and night with their bright, colorful eyes peeled as much as possible, they didn't find Serouso or Ninomeena and only tired themselves out too much. No amount of healing could relieve the mental exhaustion and the green, yellow and pink dragons curled up in their cave to sleep.

But after a few hours, the sun's rays started shining down on the dragons in their cave. Carith groaned and got up with Fayerin following. Only Lilomeena wasn't able to make herself get up. Her parents understood their little daughter and let her rest.

"Someone has to stay in the cave if any of the two come back, after all," Fayerin snuggled her cheek to Lilomeena's and the parents took off, leaving a pink dragon to sleep restlessly.

Lilomeena couldn't feel her legs or arms, not to mention her wings. The dragons sneaked around a few towns so they couldn't fly all the time, so a lot of leg work was used as well. Her eyes were tired the most though. The little one honestly saw as much as she could, trying to not even blink too much, so she wouldn't miss something important in a split second.

But the pink little monster wasn't just sad because they couldn't find any of her siblings. She was sad because she knew she was a nuisance. Because she was not only the slowest and clumsiest in the family, she also let this whole mess happen. If she had let her parents check up on Serouso and Ninomeena when the lightning storm was raging in this floral floor, they might have been able to save them both...

Lilomeena hid her watery eyes in her paws and started shivering. She cursed herself in her mind with any mean words she knew, which weren't that many, but they still didn't make her feel better.

"Lilomeena...?" the pink healer heard a familiar young male voice. Her head immediately rose with her sparkling eyes that stared out of disbelief.

"S-Serouso... Y-you came back. You are alright!" Lilomeena jumped to her feet and pounced on her big brother, hugging him with all her might.

"Y-yeah I'm fine. Lilomeena, I can't breathe," the red dragon didn't stop his sister's affectionate actions until his lungs started getting crushed.

As Lilomeena giggled with embarrassment, she backed away and grinned at her brother who was trying to straighten out his feathers that were all messed up because of his sister.

And yet, it was nice to get such a warm welcome. Serouso always liked Lilomeena more than her sister... Maybe because the pink one was weak. Weaker than him. But he understood that he can at least try for the dark blue dragon's sake, so that meant he can do even more for Lilomeena.

"Where are mom and dad?" Serouso finally asked, free of his sister's embrace.

"They are out looking for you and Ninomeena," Lilomeena explained. "They will be so relieved to find you here," the pink dragon started almost jumping out of joy. But then she lowered herself closer to the ground, realizing that her sister was still missing. "Did you ever see her after she was taken?" the little one asked with her light green eyes shining with hope.

But Serouso only sighed and shook his head. After his dark blue sister was sold, he never saw even a hint of her. Where could she possibly be. Was she tamed? Did something even worse happen?

Yet again, the red dragon was surprised he was getting worried. He looked outside and saw a dark sky with specks of light at the horizon. Dawn will come soon.

"I should go looking for her too. Three heads are better than two," Serouso concluded and started walking out of the cave. But the pink dragon had other wishes for him.

Lilomeena ran to her brother and clung onto one of his wings. "Please don't go. At least wait until mom and dad come back and see you." the little one begged and Serouso sighed, but before he could oppose his sister, she spoke up again. "It was all my fault that you two got into those horrible human situations. Please don't go. I couldn't live with myself if you would get captured by humans again and... and wouldn't be able to come back this time."

Serouso was thinking what to say to possibly make Lilomeena let him go, but ultimately he just sighed. She is blaming herself too much.

"It's only my own fault all this happened. If I hadn't flown into the storm, Ninomeena wouldn't have gone after me and neither of us would have been captured by humans," Serouso raised one of his front paws and patted his sister's head. "Very well. I'll wait until our parents come back."

"Thank you," Lilomeena finally let him go and smiled brightly.

_"...I don't want to see her sad. I'll try to help her stay happy as much as possible,"_ Serouso thought as he came back to the cave and curled up into a ball to take a short nap that will let him relax after all those "adventures" with humans. _"It seems as if this intelligence is trying to make me have kinder emotions... I don't like it,"_ after that last thought Serouso yawned and drifted into dreamland, with his sister curling up just a few inches away from him.

* * *

_**Floor 46. Anteru.**_

Ninomeena, Darkboy and Nekoangel rented a two bed room in the same inn they ate dinner and decided to sleep through the night and continue their training in the Ant Hill dungeon tomorrow. Of course, Nekoangel changed into her sky blue pajamas and immediately caught Ninomeena in her arms when it was time to sleep and didn't let her go through the night. But the dark blue dragon didn't seem too uncomfortable. Nekoangel tried to give her as much space in her arms while still hugging her. Ninomeena's feathers were so soft and the dragon was so calmingly warm that Nekoangel fell asleep immediately. Ninomeena quickly followed. Only Darkboy couldn't make himself fall asleep, after he changed into more plain black clothes he must have considered to be his pajamas, and got into his bed.

He kept thinking about the quest Ninomeena will unlock for him. He had heard about the quest accidentally, when two players were discussing it in the same, not crowded and quiet inn Darkboy was eating in a few months ago. A quest for a for an ultimate monster that can be tamed. It even sounded like the monster was a sort of a miniboss. A giant dragon that can't even fit in an inn's room, like all the other small tamed monsters, for example, Ninomeena.

But the worst was the food you need to feed the miniboss dragon to tame it. Darkboy tried not thinking about it, but he was starting to have second thoughts. And he was not happy about that. It was supposed to be an easy quest to gain one of the strongest monsters available for taming, but it didn't seem so easy now. Darkboy clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He'll see the quest through. It doesn't matter what the sacrifice will be.

Once he decided that, he didn't even notice how quickly he fell asleep and as he opened his eyes again, sunlight was already trying to get inside the room through the windows that had dark curtains covering them. Darkboy sat up to find Nekoangel still hugging Ninomeena. None of them were awake, but the darkly dressed human wanted to continue the dark blue dragon's training.

"Wake up you two," he said with a loud, but not shouting voice. He felt like he didn't have the authority to shout at them. They were just tired after the training yesterday anyway.

But, to his surprise, one pair of blue eyes and one pair of orange eyes shot open and both females yawned. The resemblance was uncanny and made Darkboy snicker. The two looked at him with rather confused looks and Nekoangel sat up, raising Ninomeena together with her and setting her down on her lap.

"Are we going to train without even eating?" Nekoangel sounded a little outraged and disappointed. Ninomeena growled quiet similarly to Nekoangel's tone as well.

"...Fine. 10 minutes for breakfast. Get dressed," Darkboy ordered and left the room, leaving Nekoangel still sitting on the bed with her light blue pajamas and Ninomeena stretching on her lap.

Nekoangel looked at her clothes. Before, she only thought about Ninomeena and didn't care by the slightest that she was sleeping in the same room as a boy. She had never done that, even in the real world. She didn't even have siblings. The blue-haired girl summoned a mirror from her Items and flushed even more. Did Darkboy see her this red as well?

* * *

_**Ant Hill.**_

Nekoangel tried to keep her distance from Darkboy with Ninomeena flying beside her. The dark blue dragon tried to understand the sudden change of the female human. Before, it seemed like she didn't even care much for Darkboy's existence, but now...

It's not like Ninomeena could ask any of them what was going on. She decided it wasn't her place to advise humans. She just knew she liked both her master and the girl that tried to have her after Darkboy completes the quest. None of them seemed to offer Ninomeena freedom, which should have been the most important aspect, and yet - she still liked them.

Ninomeena looked up to the sky. She could just fly up and reach the sky's limit to change floors, but her attachment to Darkboy was too painful to disregard. When they were separated in the dungeon the day before, Ninomeena felt very uncomfortable. If she even tried flying off further away from her master, her body started hurting. The humans must have been aware of the pain gotten by tamed monsters that's why both of them stayed in the same room. Neither of them wanted to be away from the dragon: Darkboy - to not cause her pain and Nekoangel - to not be sad to not have Ninomeena in her arms.

The party of two players and one tamed monster decided to stay closer to each other than before in the dungeon. The ants of the first floor started swarming around the party and the battle commenced.

Darkboy jumped on one of the small cliffs above the caves and started shooting dark arrows that pierced the ants with surprising speed. He only needed to hold his hand near the string of his dark bow in a certain way to trigger a skill. Different abilities usually summoned different arrows, but he liked the black ones the best. Every arrow that hit its target had a 10% chance to inflict Daze, Stun or Paralysis. All of these status effects expired rather quickly, but when you can launch an arrow every second, even the smallest status effect can get you enough time to end your opponent.

Nekoangel on the other hand couldn't leave the swarm. Her dark blue spear with a shiny and sharp grey tip worked only in her arms. She couldn't just throw it or anything. But her speed stat was high enough for her to hit most of the ants before they hit her. Her power usually knocked the rather light giant ants away and that also gave her more time to deal with the closer ones. Her spear's end kept glowing in different colors and let her make impressive combos. But it did seem like she sometimes messed those combos up, like missing the enemy just by a little bit and making her spear immediately stop glowing. But she didn't let that discourage her. With a swift slash, she triggered a new skill and kept destroying more and more ants.

And finally, Ninomeena flied in between the players, using her Water Claw and a newly obtained skill - Water Wing, simultaneously, to slash any ants that blocked her path. She wished she could use healing moves like her sister and her mother, to help both Darkboy and Nekoangel, but she just didn't have it in her. Still the damage she inflicted wasn't that minor and she was proud of herself.

One after the other the ants fell and the EXP rose between the three party members. Around every 15 ants Ninomeena obtained a new level. Of course, with every new level, the number of ants that had to be defeated rose.

It was weird how slowly she leveled up, in comparison to when she fought those Blood Deer, but this was obviously because she had to share her EXP. Or maybe tamed monsters simply level up slower.

Well, it didn't matter. Her level was rising and that was what mattered. Sadly, with 2 levels short of the 10 needed, the one hour limit expired and the whole party exited the dungeon. Darkboy and Nekoangel were both pleased with the result. Now Ninomeena was level 25. Darkboy decided to check out if she had acquired any new skills.

"So you have Water Claw, Rain, Lightning and Water Wing. Also you have a few passive skills that up your stats when you or me are low on health and have a 5% chance to poison the enemy on contact. Not bad. Though I don't understand why do some of your attacks have their damage called "water damage". It's not like there is elemental damage here. Sounds a little too much like magic. But I guess we should see what you do with creatures that seem to resemble fire and compare the damage to plant monsters," once he finished the sentence, Darkboy strangely flinched. He understood Ninomeena won't belong to him for long enough to actually try out the things that managed to interest him. He shook his head, as if he threw out the thought and closed Ninomeena's info.

Still a little less that a few hours to wait to get back into the dungeon. Of course the party could have ventured into the plains, but it takes quite a lot of time to find monsters, when there were plenty of players raiding the plains and killing the monsters almost immediately after they spawn. Those monsters were truly weak and would have probably taken as much time out of the party to make Ninomeena level up those last few levels, as waiting for the dungeon would take.

So the party simply rested at the entrance of Ant Hill. Nekoangel played with Ninomeena while Darkboy seemed to take a nap. The blue-haired girl had just the multi-colored ribbon to tease the little feathered dragon with and Ninomeena couldn't resist it. The cute sight attracted many female players, making them awe and squeal at the three. Most, of course, got even closer and begged Nekoangel to let them play with Ninomeena as well. The blue-haired girl, always untrustingly, had to keep giving girls the ribbon, but Ninomeena didn't show much interest when strangers wanted to play with her. That made Nekoangel incredibly happy and she couldn't stop smiling, especially when Ninomeena kept coming back to her with the ribbon taken from the strangers and she did that while always purring.

During the few hours Nekoangel and Ninomeena also managed to eat, while Darkboy just slept the whole time. Nekoangel felt rather insulted, though she wasn't sure why. Maybe she wanted a little more attention from the boy. But Ninomeena got so much attention from the girl with the blue dress that she almost forgot Nekoangel wasn't her master.

_"Wouldn't be that bad,"_ she thought, though something at the back of her head told her otherwise.

*yawn*

Darkboy finally woke up and looked at the time. "The cooldown ended. Let's finish this," he quickly stood up and waited for Nekoangel to get up as well with Ninomeena flying around the two of them. Darkboy smiled a little, before dropping the happy face, once he became aware of it.

* * *

After defeating about 25 giant ants, Ninomeena joyfully screeched, seeing her level number reach 27. The number her master needed. She quickly flew to him, as he still shot dark arrows from a cliff to the ants. He immediately understood what had happened from her incredibly happy and adorable smile.

"Neko! Ninomeena did it! Let's get out of here!" Darkboy shouted while waving and jumped off the cliff. Nekoangel jumped around in one place, letting out a victorious squeal, while slashing the ants that might have thought she let down her guard.

Not long until Ninomeena belongs to her!

The trio exited the dungeon and after a bit of healing, Darkboy extended his arm, so that Ninomeena would land on it. She had a golden exclamation point above her head.

"Now then, show me this quest of yours," he said and a text box appeared.

**"Teleport to the 24th Floor and follow the Little Feathered Dragon,"** a simple, short text was written in simple quest letters. No hints about a reward could be seen. But Darkboy still hoped that everything will happen as he expects to. Though a part of him didn't want to hope for that and begged him to just give up. And yet, that part was too small to change Darkboy's mind.

The quest was accepted.

* * *

**Ooooh the quest has begun :3 Next up - Floor 24 and a little of an elemental journey down to the bottom of the lake, that is covering almost the entire floor.**

**I believe I'll include both the ending of the quest and one of the side effects of this AI virus in the next chapter so look forward to it ^.^**

**Review ^.^**


	6. Monster battle and transformation

_**Monster battle and transformation**_

_**Floor 24**_

Only minor green islands connected by narrow floating wooden bridges gave any source of land. The whole floor was simply a giant, clear water lake. It was easy to take care of monsters attacking one on land, when one could just fling them off and let them drown. Maybe that's why monsters didn't give much EXP here. Though not many could try out the monsters deep underwater or even see them.

But two humans and a tamed monster with a question mark above her head surely did. Upon teleporting to the 24th floor, Ninomeena started glowing her dark blue color and screeching a little, as if she was calling the humans.

"What's wrong, Ninomeena?" Nekoangel approached her with a warm smile, but the dragon always flew further away, keeping at least a few meter distance. Her orange eyes seemed not that alive anymore... Not that they ever were. Though Nekoangel noticed the difference.

As the party reached water, Ninomeena screeched a little once more and dove into the water. Darkboy and Nekoangel glanced at each other and nodded. Two more beings dove in.

Normally one wouldn't be able to stay underwater for that long, but this was a quest after all. The dragon's master and other party members received a breathing apparatus each. Strangely enough, Ninomeena didn't get anything. Well, she did poses skills with water. No wonder she could breathe under it.

At first it seemed the quest was simple, with no battles or similar. But as expected, monsters lurked in the water and they weren't too happy to see creatures in their territory. Humans from the surface at that.

At the beginning there were only shadows swimming around the party, but the more aggressive monsters had the guts to attack, launching themselves at their foes at incredible speed. Most monsters had giant jaws with sharp teeth. Even their fins had sharp endings and their backs were covered in spikes that emitted from the spine. Most monsters looked bipedal. Not many looked like actual real life water creatures. The programmer that created the monsters probably went for the Loch Ness monster/human hybrid creature style.

Fighting under water was no easy task. Darkboy's and Nekoangel's movements were slow and uncoordinated. The two almost couldn't evade. Their weapons didn't move as fast as they would want them to either. Darkboy was glad his arrows at least managed to shoot, but the water made them so slow, they kept missing the fast creatures.

If Ninomeena wasn't just a guide, she would have tried to help, but she was... programmed to keep two meters away from the humans and wait until they either die or defeat their opponents.

*slash*

Finally, the two humans understood the timing needed to attack and to counterattack, instead of evading, which was almost impossible with nothing around to boost their speed. The monsters that did so much damage that the two needed to drink potions to stay alive, started going down with but a few well aimed and timed spear slashes or arrows piercing their bodies. The party could finally move on to welcome new waves of monsters and get closer to their goal stroke by stroke.

Ninomeena kept swimming ahead, always deeper down. Ultimately, the party swam so deep, only the blue light of Ninomeena could be seen. The only light source that showed the monsters. And it kept getting away from the humans. Strangely enough, the dark blue dragon was not attacked. Not even once did the monsters try to even scratch her. She was one of them, one of the monsters. Not like when she was in the Ant Hill dungeon and fought for her master.

A hostile deep water creature caught Nekoangel's spear and started shaking it, with Nekoangel shaking as well and losing her grip on her weapon. She was tired both physically and emotionally. The darkness and uncertainty of where they were going dampened her mood as well.

Dark boy was in a little better position. His bow was enchanted to daze the monsters that come in contact with it. The longer the monsters touch the bow, the better the chances to get dazed. The creatures that tried to bite the bow and shake it like Nekoangel's spear, quickly let go as their jaws weakened from their lack of body control. A few arrows quickly finished the job and the monsters kept dispersing into crystals.

A few arrows shot down the creature biting into Nekoangel's weapon as well. With so little light, no one was even certain about what they were fighting.

But finally, with a few more strokes, the monsters seized and Ninomeena stopped in front of some sort of giant structure. Her light started getting brighter and spread against the underwater building. Enourmous doors were revealed with strange ancient markings. Most were covered in seaweed or simply crumbled away but still it was obvious what it was.

The light spread enough to show a giant castle. Its state was similar to the door's and yet it seemed like it will never fully break, like it will stand there forever. The dark blue dragon screeched, swimming in circles around a jewel on the door. Everything appeared blue, so it wasn't even clear what colors were there exactly. But blueness suited the underwater castle.

Darkboy and Nekoangel swam to the doors and Ninomeena's master figured he should touch the jewel. With one finger coming into contact, a small, pure white light made the jewel shine and the doors started moving, crumbling. Air bubbles were escaping the castle.

_"These doors could be big enough for a giant,"_ Nekoangel thought and tried to say it, but only then she realized there was no way they could talk underwater. It was like something was forbidding her from doing that. A glitch in the system? Or something to make the underwater experience more natural, even with those strange breathing apparatuses?

Ninomeena screeched once again, swimming around a one last circle and swam into the castle, with the humans following her. The light faded from the castle, as Ninomeena got inside and the inside of the castle got lit up instead, but far more faintly than it should be enough to understand the environment.

The water appeared where air probably once was. It's like they were the first ones to enter this castle... Or maybe it resets? Like monsters respawn. But the water just meant more swimming and probably more difficult fighting.

But as Darkboy and Nekoangel followed the tamed monster through long, huge corridors, giant stairs and such, not one monster showed their face. Nothing even moved around them. Only some objects did because of the water moving from the party members' strokes. And yet, nothing fell. Vases, paintings, everything stayed in place. But who or what even used these? Kings and queens? Simple nobleman or just rich people? But why the giant door and giant spaces?

Only Darkboy had a good enough clue, but he didn't really feel like sharing. He even wasn't able to after all. Nekoangel was left to think for herself and Ninomeena couldn't make herself even think about anything.

Finally the trio approached a new giant door. Another gem got centered in the circle Ninomeena started swimming around in. Darkboy touched it like before and a white light shone once more. The doors opened, but there were no air bubbles escaping. The giant room that was revealed was drowned long before the rest of the castle was. And it showed. It looked just like the outside of the castle with all the seaweed and crumbling walls.

Ninomeena finally landed once she reached the center of the enormous room. An exclamation mark took the place of the question mark and the two players swam to the dark blue dragon to see what she wanted to tell them.

_"You have completed the quest. Reward: Giant Blue Dragon."_

Something started moving at the far corner of the room. Ninomeena's light was dimming until the little dragon completely stopped shining. But the thing hiding far in the back started shining the same blue light instead. A mountain of gold and jewels that were lit up, started diminishing and letting out a dragon out of the center. The blue one roared and got his heavy front claws out of the pile, stomping them loudly on the floor. Its wings started stretching with its tail swinging every which way in agitation.

Nekoangel looked at Darkboy with startled eyes. He was readying his bow. What was happening? The blue-haired girl didn't expect this kind of end to the quest. She picked Ninomeena off the floor and hugged her, swimming a little further away from Darkboy and the dragon approaching him with heavy steps. The dragon was heavy enough to completely defy water. But it seemed it could swim as well. Probably even fly.

Arrows started flying, or rather swimming, towards the giant monster with two full health bars. It wasn't fast enough to block them and took them to the arm. And yet, it seemed not affected at all. A tremendous roar echoed even in the water and the dragon lowered its head and let out some kind of attack that moved like a hurricane or a tornado towards the dark-haired human. But the strange thing was that it seemed to be hollow in the middle. Darkboy braced himself and centered himself into the middle. The attack went through him with absolutely no damage. But the dragon understood what was happening and proved to be intelligent. As Darkboy passed the tornado, he was welcomed by blue shining claws, flinging him all the way to one of the giant room's walls.

Nekoangel let out a sort of screech that was supposed to be the name of the hurt player. He was still alright, but the attack knocked off quite a lot of his health. The blue-haired girl looked at Ninomeena who was sleeping in her arms and carefully let her float in the water near the doors out of this enormous room. That dragon couldn't be defeated by only one player. She had to help.

Before the dragon could get too close to Darkboy, Nekoangel sent a shock wave its way, by slamming her spear to the ground. Not much damage was done, but the move certainly caught the big dragon's attention. With another roar, it lunged itself towards the new, blue-haired opponent. Anyone could see the fear in Nekoangel's eyes. But Ninomeena was just behind her and the human had to move, no matter how scary.

Hitting her spear to the ground to fling herself faster than simple swimming would be, the female player managed to get that much needed distance so Ninomeena wouldn't be caught in the dragon's tornado attack, which it aimed directly at the human. Nekoangel didn't have time to center herself and spun together with the tornado. Faint shrieks could be heard.

But a sudden arrow that sprouted vines into the the tornado's water completely stopped the attack and Nekoangel could catch her breath, still floating away from the inertia of the tornado. The giant dragon looked back to see who dared to stop its attack. It understood it was at a disadvantage against two foes. It had to give all of its attention to only one human. There was no use to try to take them out at the same time.

Ultimately, Nekoangel was chosen as the first victim. She was both closer and weaker than the male human after all. This time the dragon didn't stop to use his tornado attack and made its claws shine as it dashed towards Nekoangel, who was still gasping for air. Even the breathing apparatus couldn't help when there was so much turbulence before.

Though she tried to evade with the help of her spear again, the claws just had too big of a radius and the blue-haired girl was flung up all the way to the very tall ceiling. With a rather quiet, but obviously painful thump the human groaned and braced herself for another attack. The dragon jumped up and slashed her once again, trying to make her fall to the ground. It seemed like the dragon was playing with Nekoangel like with a rag doll.

But Darkboy couldn't see his party member suffer so much. He kept firing arrows that inflicted troublesome status effects. The second slash was luckily weakened by a sharp attack debuff caused by one of Darkboy's skills. The bad thing for the human was that he was immobilized for ten seconds after using such a strong debuff. But as the dragon paid no attention to him, he could risk it.

Nekoangel also felt that the dragon started weakening. Her health was down to half even so. A few more hits and she will be done for. Without a second thought about the pain, Nekoangel jumped up and released a lightning-speed like barrage onto the dragon. She moved her spear back and forth so quickly that everyone could see afterimages. Finally, it seemed the dragon even started suffering. But could that possibly be enough...

Of course, the blue dragon didn't take the hits without a fight for long. Its claws flew from both sides, crushing Nekoangel in between them. Air bubbles escaped her breathing apparatus as she gasped. Strangely enough, as the dragon released its claws, Nekoangel fell to the floor as if she had passed out. Her health was down to red and an alarming sound spread towards ears that did not work properly anymore.

With a swish of its tail, the sort of mini boss flung Nekoangel to the wall where Ninomeena was left before. The female player hit the little blue dragon before hitting the wall. Last drops of health were going down for the human that couldn't make herself snap out of that strange, not an in-game aspect that seemed like uncosciousness. Both females didn't let a single sound out.

The giant dragon looked at Nekoangel once more, let out a sort of scoff and turned back to Darkboy. His immobilization after using a strong debuff skill had just ended and he was ready to fire powerful arrows once he understood what the dragon wanted to do. He glanced at the health of his party member and tamed monster. If the dragon goes for the kill, Darkboy will certainly not make it in time to stop it.

The dragon roared and conjured up another Water Tornado. It must have had programmed strategy like any other monster and it was easy to comprehend it after a few tries. That time Darkboy didn't pass through the vortex, but rather jumped up and saw the dragon already aiming his claws towards Darkboy, if he had tried his previous strategy as well. Of course, the dragon's black eyes quickly followed the human's new movement, but it was too late to properly aim up. A few more chances to fire a few more arrows.

Darkboy glanced at the mini boss's HP. One bar was gone, but the other one was still full and shone with a green light. When both Darkboy and Nekoangel fought, they barely took out one health bar and now Darkboy was alone and running out of options as the weakened dragon became more enraged. It must have been a passive skill that upped his attack speed and aim once its health lowered to certain percents. The human didn't even have time to aim as the dragon released a barrage of slashes on him, flinging him every which way.

The fight just didn't stop, as Darkboy healed himself and did minor damage, before being damaged badly because of the dragon's attacks and having to heal himself all over again. The dark-haired human was running out of potions.

And suddenly, the dragon pinned Darkboy to one of the walls of the giant room so quickly, that nothing but air managed to escape Darkboy's lungs. The giant monster opened its jaws. It didn't seem like the dragon wanted to release a simple attack. More like it wanted to bite off the human's head.

Neither the bow nor arrows were reachable as both of Darkboy's arms were crushed against the wall by the giant claw of the mini boss dragon. It was hopeless.

But suddenly a sharp screech drew both of their attentions. It was Nekoangel. She was holding her head with her hands and wobbling on her two feet in a semi-crouching position. She was obviously in pain. Some kind of bright blue light was emitting from her.

And then Darkboy noticed something strange with her hands. They were growing, becoming darker. Her nails were growing as well and getting sharper. Ultimately they almost started to sink into her own head, but once she felt that pain she removed her hands and stared at them. Her eyes could be seen then. They were glowing bright yellow. But that wasn't the only change to her face.

It was becoming sort of cat-like, losing human aspects. A light blue shining fur started covering it and the same started happening on all of her visible skin. Light blue fur? Why? What was happening to her?

Nekoangel started getting used to the pain and got back some environment assessment. She looked up at Darkboy and the dragon. She knew she wanted to help, but her legs didn't listen. And what could she do in this situation anyway. Her spear was nowhere in sight and she couldn't move her hand properly to summon the menu. It kept wobbling too much. And yet, she made herself move forward with both battling sides staring her right in the eyes.

But then she screeched once again and fell on all fours. One could only imagine how loud her screech would have been on land, if it was amazingly loud even through the breathing apparatus and the water. But that wasn't as impressive as the tail that suddenly sprouted at the bottom of her back and grew until it was around Nekoangel's height.

But her body grew as well and losing its human form. The bright blue fur started ripping her clothes or somewhat burying them under the seemingly soft texture. The breathing apparatus was gone as well. Her legs and arms got longer. Her head got bigger. Ultimately, everything led to Nekoangel becoming a three meter tall glowing bright blue cat monster with shining yellow eyes. The painful transformation had ended and Nekoangel roared and looked aggressively at the dragon.

Without a warning, she pounced on it and started slashing it with every possible chance she got. The dragon had only one spare arm and its tail wasn't fast enough to catch the agile cat. Finally, it released Darkboy to deal with the transformed human that it probably regretted not killing before. But Nekoangel still jumped around not even getting touched by the furious mini boss. Its health quickly went down. Just how powerful was Nekoangel now?

As Darkboy caught his breath after being crushed, he intensely watched the health bar of the dragon. When it finally turned red, the dragon fell and Darkboy fired a warning shot that flew just by Nekoangel's head. She looked at the human with confused and furious eyes. The human shook his head and held out a hand as if he was saying "Stop". Strangely enough, Nekoangel retreated from the dragon. Even though she looked like a monster, she understood everything. What an interesting... evolution?

Darkboy walked over to Ninomeena that was still unmoving and took her into his arms before coming back to the dragon. He approached it from the front. The dragon looked at the two with worry and aggression. It didn't want to die, but it was too weak to properly move. Or maybe Nekoangel's attack simply paralyzed it. The status effect featuring a lightning bolt next to the dragon's health bar proved that was the case.

But the blue monster was even more concerned than the dragon. She quickly dashed to Darkboy and Ninomeena with worry. What was the human doing? Why was he holding the little dragon in his arms in front of the giant dragon?

And then, before Nekoangel could stop him, Darkboy extended Ninomeena to the giant dragon. The paralysis ended and the dragon instantly opened its jaws and Ninomeena disappeared in its mouth. A menu popped in front of Darkboy and as he pressed a red outline of a circle, Nekoangel, drowned in sorrow and fury, used her claws to force open the giant dragon's mouth and spotted Ninomeena sliding down its throat.

Without a second thought, even though the cat monster was even bigger that the dragon's jaws, she dove in and grabbed Ninomeena by one of her wings. The little one was still unconscious. Her health quickly went down. So did Nekoangel's.

But even the dragon wanted that Nekoangel would get out because she made it too hard to breathe. The dragon started shaking his head and gagging. In a few seconds, Nekoangel shot out of its mouth with Ninomeena wrapped in her tail. While Nekoangel embraced the little blue dragon, Darkboy started healing the big one. Once one of the health bars of the dragon was full, Darkboy pointed up while keeping eye contact with the mini boss and jumped on the dragon's back, signaling for Nekoangel to do the same.

Still cautiously, the cat monster climbed up as well, holding Ninomeena in one of her arms. The giant dragon raised its head up, releasing one more water tornado, destroying the ceiling and flapped its wings, taking off and flying/swimming out of the castle and after a minute - out of the lake. The giant dragon emerged from the water and flew to the closest little island of the 24th floor, to let all its passengers climb off.

Once Darkboy touched the ground, Nekoangel pounced on him and growled to his face.

"How could you just sacrificed her like that?!" miraculously, even though the human turned into a cat monster, she was still able to speak. Though her voice was more monster-like.

"I knew you would save her. What's the big deal?" Darkboy scoffed, free of the breathing apparatus, and saw even more fury flicker in Nekoangel's yellow eyes.

"You are unbelievable!" the monster roared... But maybe he was right. She would have rummaged through the whole stomach of the giant dragon if it meant finding Ninomeena. Nekoangel retreated once more and finally her bright blue light dimmed, revealing just simply dark blue fur. She looked at the little dragon with a similar shade of blue. She was almost completely healthy and yet she didn't even open her eyes. "W-what's wrong with her?" Nekoangel started believing that the little, adorable feathered dragon won't ever wake up but just then Ninomeena's eyelids shivered. A pair of orange eyes started shining.

"Nekoangel," the dragon smiled.

"Ninomeena!" the cat monster hugged the little one, but then she realized. "Y-you can talk?!"

* * *

**Heh, almost everyone can talk here :D Maybe even the giant blue dragon... eventually... no? ^.^'**

**Wew, a lot happened in this chapter. The quest was completed with the reward Darkboy wanted being acquired. Something happened to Nekoangel and Ninomeena accidentally spilled her secret.**

**Now Darkboy can seem like the ultimate monster tamer with two dragons and a cat monster... If he won't throw away the smaller ones. They probably are of no use to him anyway.**

**...But yeah, if I was in Nekoangel's place I would be so freaking lost as to what to do. No longer having a human body, only a mind of one. Though that seems to be getting corrupted by monstrous attributes as well.**

**Sorry for taking so long to write and post this chapter. Stuff at school was very hectic and I kept getting trapped in rehearsals. But the event for which I had to spare so much of my time was yesterday, so the next chapter should take up less time to write than this one took ^.^**

**Review ^.^**


	7. Boss and mini boss

_**Boss and mini boss**_

_**Floor 24.**_

Ninomeena's orange eyes ran around like crazy while she tried to come up with a way she could explain everything. But should she explain? If she stays quiet, maybe Nekoangel will think that she just heard voices?

"Hey, I just turned into a cat monster. Do you really think it's that weird for me that you can talk?" Nekoangel petted the little blue dragon with one hand, while still holding her in her spare arm. "Of course, I didn't think monsters can talk, but maybe you're some sort of artificial intelligence test subject," the blue feral human suggested, but Ninomeena didn't take that explanation gladly.

"I'm not a test subject. I'm real," the dragon got herself out of Nekoangel's arms and flew up, pouting a little.

"Oh, y-yeah. Of course you are," Nekoangel was impressed at how the creature actually had feelings. She had to be more careful to not hurt that little blue dragon. "I'm sorry for suggesting that. But hey, Ninomeena, do you know why I turned into this cat monster? Also, it would be nice to know if I can revert back."

"I've never seen humans turn into monsters. Sorry... I have no idea how to help," the angry face of the little dragon turned sad. Feelings that were denied before, during the quest, seemed to come back with a lot of power.

"Well, I want to try out this body anyway. It's been long since I could play as a monster," Nekoangel started observing her paws and claws, her tail, pretty much anything she could see and touch.

Ninomeena was a little confused why Nekoangel said those things. Was she a monster before as well? But do humans really have the power to change their entire bodies? Ninomeena definitely never witnessed that.

"Ehem," Darkboy cleared his throat to catch the attention of the two females. "Ninomeena, thank you for your service. I give you over to Nekoangel," he summoned a menu and searched for something before making a menu appear in front of the cat monster as well. Before, Nekoangel wouldn't have doubted to accept that gift immediately, but now she found out something about Ninomeena that made it feel wrong to treat her as a pet.

"Um, Ninomeena... do you want to travel with me?" Nekoangel asked, holding her tail in her claws and squeezing it out of anticipation and worry that the little one won't agree.

But there was no need to worry. Ninomeena formed a bond with Nekoangel and she wasn't about to give it up, so she gladly nodded and smiled with a soft purr. Also, she felt that her new master's monstrous appearance was somehow her fault. Maybe it was the strange condition that her family and she herself had? Monsters develop human minds and humans develop... monster bodies?

For a moment, Ninomeena remembered something she should have never forgotten. Her family, the ones that are just like her! She can't stay! She can't belong to Nekoangel if she wants to get back home!

But as Nekoangel got a positive answer, she claimed Ninomeena as her pet monster almost immediately. The moment the feathered dragon was transferred, all memories of her true goal somehow vanished and she was back to her happy and clueless self. There was no one else but her master now.

"I've held my promise. Now if you excuse me, I have to get back to the front lines," Darkboy jumped on his dragon and ordered it to take off. But Nekoangel didn't seem very happy with the idea.

"H-hey! Aren't you going to help me get back to normal?!" the blue monster shouted out. She could have jumped and caught onto the dragon's leg or tail, but she knew they would all simply crash into the water somewhere if she added her weight.

"...If I knew how to help you, I'd try, but honestly I have no idea. You'll have to figure it out on your own," Darkboy seemed neutral. But Nekoangel took it as a personal offence and growled at the player that was flying away to the nearest town and portal.

"I don't need him anyway," Nekoangel scoffed, but ultimately she had to head in the same direction as the dragon and its rider. Only in a town could she possibly hope to find information. She just hoped people won't try to attack her or anything. At least towns were safe zones.

On her way, crossing many bridges and jumping from one island to another with her very strong legs, the feral blue monster checked out her skills. All the names of the skills were connected to water and her claws seemed to be the main weapon. She still had all her items but all her real weapons couldn't be equipped anymore. Well, she wasn't sure if she could hold onto her spears without thumbs anyway so they weren't really needed.

Ninomeena practiced her skills as well, but they were noticeably fewer than Nekoangel's. But the dark blue dragon was far behind her master's level anyway, so she didn't mind. She'd grow someday.

_**Panareze**_

As the two finally reached the main human settlement of the 24th floor, Nekoangel understood that she might be treated with hostility by other humans. Or at least get weird looks. She breathed in deeply, hesitant of stepping off of one of the bridges connecting the smaller islands to the biggest one, but Ninomeena purred warmly and landed on her cat monster head to try and give her more courage.

"It will be alright. You don't look scary at all so they won't think you are a real monster."

"Well you aren't scary by the least and yet you still classify as a monster," Nekoangel reminded with a teasing tone.

"I'm smarter than some mindless monster," the dragon protested with a cute voice and made the cat monster snicker. She never thought she would have a talk like that with a real monster, created solely by the game.

Luckily that took her mind off the fear of player hostility and Nekoangel dashed towards the Teleport Gate. From the middle of the town, she hoped to spot anyone that would look like someone who could help her with her... condition.

The small town was nearly abandoned. Only a few players walked around and the rest of the people were NPCs. There were rather many houses on the edges of the island outside the main plaza, but they were too small for almost anyone, so most of them were completely abandoned.

Once the front lines pass through some floor, the town of the floor becomes quiet and empty, especially in such uncomfortable places as this one. The actual town didn't even have any inns or shops, so it wasn't useful for players at all. Only some rare items hidden around the many islands brought back anyone.

But could the real cause for so many abandoned towns be simple death of the players locked inside the game? No one really announced kills, so no one could possibly know how many had died. Nekoangel frowned from the thought as she observed everyone in Panareze one last time. Only a few players actually looked at her, but they probably thought that Nekoangel was simply wearing a some sort of disguise and didn't pay too much attention after some straight on observation or sneaky glances.

"It's no use to ask anyone for help here, huh, Ninomeena?" Nekoangel sighed, asking her dark blue dragon.

But Ninomeena didn't answer. She knew none of the humans could possibly help her master. This was the feathered dragon's fault and she couldn't fix it. But should she tell Nekoangel the absolutely whole truth? Won't the transformed human hate her when she understands everything?

The sad thoughts made Ninomeena just shut her mouth even more tightly. Nekoangel took her silence as a positive response to her question and the two teleported away, to one of the biggest discovered city, where someone could possibly help them.

_**Floor 47.**_

As the day started to end, two parents were coming back to their home without finding neither Serouso, nor Ninomeena. The last hope for now was that their children simply managed to get back home by themselves. Even if the searches were exhausting, even if the little dragons were in danger to be captured multiple times, if they would find their children safely waiting in the cave at the edge of this floor, everything would be completely worth it.

Fayerin could barely keep her violet eyes open. Carith wasn't doing any better, but he still flew as if he was flying to battle. His attitude to never show weakness took over. But when Fayerin was the only one that could see him the green dragon was just tiring himself out, while using more strength than he should.

The giant meadow underneath sometimes changed colors. Two pairs of tired eyes couldn't see individual flowers anymore so everything was like a watercolor painting to them, with the background always being green and beautiful bright colors swirling and mixing, never making a decent shape.

Suddenly Fayerin started losing altitude. Carith noticed the yellow dragon leaving his field of vision and without thinking flew to her. Because Carith was a little bigger than his love, he easily supported all of her weight and flew on, with Fayerin asleep on his back. Now there was no way Carith was going to not reach the cave. He had to safely get Fayerin home. Though it was harder to fly, his determination was as strong as ever.

"Mom! Dad!" Lilomeena had just woken up from her nap and spotted a few bright feathered dragons landing near the cave. The pink little one dashed to her parents and smiled with a joyous grin. "Serouso came back!"

Even though Fayerin was asleep, those few words woke her right up. Her violet eyes lazily opened, as if she didn't believe what she just heard. But there, waiting at the entrance of the cave, was a red little dragon that smiled softly at his parents.

"Oh, my darling," Fayerin got off Carith's back and ran to her son. Honestly, Serouso liked his mother more than any other family member and he welcomed her embrace by hugging her back as well. "I'm so relieved you are safe," Fayerin stepped back after the embrace so she could see if her son wasn't injured, but he was completely fine. "Oh, it would be so perfect if Ninomeena would come back to us as well," the yellow dragon glanced behind her back, as if expecting her youngest daughter to just appear somewhere in the horizon and complete the family once again. But she felt that won't happen. She felt that Ninomeena won't come back on her own. She had lost the connection with her a while ago and didn't even have a clue in which floor she might be in right now.

There was no way she or Carith could fly off to search immediately. Only a few hours of sleep every day couldn't remove the strain on their bodies and minds. They needed a good night's rest before they could try to find Ninomeena again.

"Serouso, Lilomeena, promise me you two won't try to find Ninomeena while your father and I are sleeping, alright?" the yellow-colored mother dragon looked at her son and daughter and got hesitant nods from them. They probably wanted to do what their mother just forbade them to do.

And yet, until Fayerin woke up the next day, none of the family members left the cave. No one wanted to worry Fayerin anymore than she was worried already.

_**Floor 50. Algade.**_

The streets of the huge, crowded, rather modern city that had that early 21st century vibe, were unbelievably narrow at times so Darkboy's blue dragon definitely couldn't walk behind her master.

"Taucelyne, fly around in the sky, but keep your eyes on me and come back the moment I give the signal, got it?" the darkly dressed human ordered his dragon, of which he finally knew the name and gender of, while they were still in the biggest part of the city where the huge dragon could still fit - the Main Plaza of Algade. Taucelyne roared in agreement and took off sending waves of wind that made anyone that felt them almost fall over. But somehow Darkboy seemed not that affected.

"Is that a boss above the city?!" people started shouting and pointing at the giant blue dragon, flying in circles in the sky. Long-ranged weapons flew towards her, but none could actually hit her. She was smart enough to raise her altitude. Darkboy smiled. The choice to keep her was the best.

And yet, the human remembered Nekoangel's transformation and thought it would have been interesting to see what she could do. She actually defeated Taucelyne after all. She was immensely powerful.

As Darkboy went inside a weapon shop, making his way through all the dumbfounded people just looking at the sky with mouths open, he was welcomed by the shopkeeper's gossip.

"Did you see that dragon?! I think it's this floors boss, but it's not attacking anyone. I wonder why." the shopkeeper was a young, energetic teen, obviously psyched about the huge monster in the sky.

"The dungeon is already found. The boss room as well. Some players even managed to spy on the boss in that room and it looks nothing like that dragon," Darkboy tried correcting him. It was unwise to actually tell anyone that Taucelyne belongs to him, when he can't escape from the questions that are sure to follow and end only after a lot of time has passed.

"Yeah, you're right. But maybe it's an event boss?! I wonder what loot it could drop," the shopkeeper started dreaming as he picked an obsidian sword with a silver handle and started cleaning it, maybe wanting to kill the dragon with it.

"What bows can you offer here?" Darkboy understood this won't go anywhere if he will continue letting the teen think about Taucelyne.

"Bows? Those are kind of rare, but I did make an amazing one not so long ago," the obsidian sword was carefully laid down on the counter as the shopkeeper walked to one of the walls covered in weapons. A big silver bow with dark carvings was taken off the wall and brought back to be shown to Darkboy. "It's one of the lightest weapons I've managed to forge so far. But it's arrows pack quite a punch. I called it Saber Bow."

Darkboy observed the silver bow's stats and compared them to those of his dark bow. They were better, but only in some aspects, like health and speed. And yet, that was enough to make the Saber Bow better overall.

Leaving with a new, better bow, Darkboy felt ready to add his strength to the front lines to beat the 50th floor's boss. He heard Taucelyne's joyous roar, probably because she might have been uneasy when she couldn't see her master and now she was relieved. He smirked and went towards the dungeon, going through narrow streets with many people in them. Most still had their eyes locked on the giant blue dragon.

But then the talks about a boss changed about talks about a mini boss. Darkboy felt a little insulted that Taucelyne's worth was lowered like that. But as it turned out, the people weren't addressing Taucelyne as the mini boss.

* * *

"I-I'm sorry, but does anyone possibly know how I could get back to my human form?" Nekoangel and Ninomeena appeared in the second largest city to be yet discovered by players. But there was no mistake this city had the biggest population for now, until the boss of the 50th floor will be defeated and the 51st floor will be unlocked.

Players looked at the giant blue monster and were honestly just confused. It... talked. And had a tamed dragon flying next to it.

"...Are you an intelligent mini boss or something?" people started approaching Nekoangel with curious and somewhat aggressive looks.

"Um no. I'm a-"

"Or maybe you are a quest?!" someone loudly interrupted in the growing crowd and then quickly added. "...But you don't have an exclamation mark above you."

"Y-yeah. That's because-" Nekoangel started backing away, but the people were everywhere around her.

"It probably gives some awesome loot!" weapons started shining in the crowd.

"Let's kill it!" someone finally roared. "Chase it out of the city. Only then can we fight it!"

"What?! No!" Nekoangel looked around, trying to spot at least a small opening, but she only met greedy eyes and blades that were pointing at her. Finally, the humans started poking her from the side so she would move out of the plaza.

Ninomeena was startled as well. She flew around, screeching and trying to ward off the humans, but her flashy attacks had absolutely no effect.

"Get away, dragon! If you don't want to be killed too!" Ninomeena was warned, but that didn't stop her until someone knocked her away with a sharp blade. A dark blue little dragon got lost between many human legs that kept stepping on her, both hurting her and not letting her fly off anywhere.

"Ninomeena!" Nekoangel noticed the act and her fear turned into fury. "Get away!" the monster started making her way towards Ninomeena, flinging humans that were in her way every which direction with her massive and powerful claws. Around 10 people were thrown away by Nekoangel and the crowd was getting noisier and angrier with every act of violence by the blue cat.

But Nekoangel blocked out their sound. She simply used her eyes to find the dark blueness of her precious little dragon. And she finally saw her lying on the floor and panting heavily. A grown up woman was standing on one of her wings. She probably didn't even notice the dragon.

"Get off her!" Nekoangel swung her arm and claw back to make the woman take a devastating blow, but as the woman had time to redeem herself, she quickly did.

The white haired woman looked down and gasped. She released Ninomeena's wing from under her boot and picked her up, constantly saying "sorry". She extended the blue dragon to the cat monster who had lowered her arm without punching anyone.

"Ninomeena, I'm so sorry. I didn't know this would happen to you," Nekoangel carefully took her tamed monster from the women and hugged it gently.

"I-it's alright. I did this to myself," Ninomeena couldn't make her voice strong enough to not stutter.

It was strange. None of the players felt any pain, because the game didn't let them and yet, it seemed like Ninomeena was feeling absolutely all of the pain she would get in the real world... even though she was just a programmed NPC.

"You think we'll take it easy on you when you threw away so many people?!" finally Nekoangel unblocked her understanding of the sound from the crowd and immediately got threatened. But her fear didn't come back.

"Who cares about you?! You are the idiots that threatened me from the start! Do I look like a mini boss?! Do I sound like one?! Last time I checked, monsters couldn't speak! And see my name?! Tell me, does that look like a monster's name?!" Nekoangel almost roared, but it was still clear what she was shouting. Though she did understand she made a mistake in her 'speech'. She knew a monster that could talk. Ninomeena was living proof. Well... as living as it gets with NPCs.

"You might be a new generation monster, how can we possibly know?!" someone answered Nekoangel and the crowd once again had an argument that would explain their actions of trying to kill the blue cat monster for the loot.

"If anyone can kill her, it's me! I'm her owner!" a male voice rang out somewhere from above. With all this commotion, no one noticed how the giant blue dragon in the sky landed some time ago and then came back to the sky. It was descending in the central plaza and someone was riding it. The wind from the dragon's wings made most people get down to the ground. "I tamed those two monsters and this dragon so, if you want to fight one of them, you'll have to fight all of us. And all the fighting will only be done in the city in PvP so, technically, only one opponent can challenge me to a match. I can assure you that the town will also be harmed because Taucelyne just likes to have her space while fighting. So, if any of you don't want to suffer the fury of the shopkeepers, whose shops will be soon destroyed, I suggest you step back and let me take my monsters.

People started retreating to give the giant dragon space to land. Everything was quiet once the dragon heavily landed and shook the ground a little. Nekoangel, with Ninomeena still in her arms, looked at Darkboy with a lot of resentment but ultimately she understood she had a better chance with him than with this crowd.

Taucelyne flapped her wings and took off with three creatures on her back. She seemed to have a some sort of route in her head and she flew on while Darkboy didn't say a word. In a few minutes a dark dungeon welcomed the not yet formed party.

"I think the four of us can take out a boss with whoever is ready in that dungeon," Darkboy thought out loud, looking into the darkness where many monsters were lurking and were ready to attack before the boss room could be reached by the four.

"Maybe. But there's no way I want to party up with you again. You abandoned me!" the cat monster hissed, but the dark-haired male smirked.

"Suit yourself. I don't care what happens to you anyway. You would probably just slow me down. Let's go, Taucelyne," Darkboy dashed into the darkness with Taucelyne happily roaring and running loudly behind him.

Nekoangel and Ninomeena were left to just stand there. The cat monster let her claws sink into the ground.

"W-why would he say that? I thought we were... friends," Nekoangel felt something falling from her yellow eyes. "N-no! I will not cry for such an idiot! I don't even know anything about him. For all I care, he's just the guy who gave me Ninomeena. Like a merchant or something. Y-yeah, that's it," Nekoangel started to calm down. Maybe these tears were just because so much happened in such a short time. Ninomeena was in such terrible danger a few times, it seemed like she would die. Nekoangel herself turned into a monster and didn't know what to do and how to get back. That mob that wanted to kill her didn't help either.

Finally, Nekoangel raised her head and stared into the darkness. Somewhere there was the guy that started this whole mess. And Nekoangel wanted him to fix it.

The cat monster started slowly moving forward. Maybe if people see that she fights monsters and bosses just like them, they won't be as hostile towards her. Yeah, that seems like a good idea.

"Let's kill a boss, Ninomeena," Nekoangel smirked and dashed after Darkboy, once she thought up a decent plan. Ninomeena felt relieved her master got her energy back and, after she did a somersault while screeching, flew after Nekoangel.


	8. Onslaught

**_Warning: the 50th floor boss is a six-armed Buddha by SAO and I couldn't just change something that already exists... though there was no image of it nor name... anyways, I'm sorry if I insult anyone in any way I portrayed the six-armed Buddha ^.^''_**

**_Onslaught_**

_**Floor 50. Dungeon.**_

The day quickly turned to night and night turned to morning and yet the dungeon just seemed to never end. The labyrinth-like dark, damp place filled with monsters proved to be a challenge to anyone that entered it. Even with Taucelyne's power, Darkboy still had a hard time taking care of all those monsters. And yet, he always was at least a hundred steps away from Nekoangel and Ninomeena that tried to catch up. The rate of the monster spawning was too great to just run through and leave them behind. The monsters kept tracking anyone they laid their eyes on every time and it was too dangerous to let them pile up.

"These monsters just don't stop!" Nekoangel was catching her breath in one of the safe zones in the dungeon with Ninomeena panting next to her. Both of them had open wounds that were sending out red crystals, but none of the wounds were actually deep. After some time, they even disappeared.

Nekoangel looked out of the safe zone to observe their situation. Quite a few monsters were left outside after losing their target to an area that is neither accessible, nor even visible to them. If they had intelligence like Ninomeena, they would have understood something was wrong, but now they just walked around, hissing and growling at the air as if someone was there.

Most creatures looked like wolf and lizard hybrids having bipedal lizard/wolf bodies and grey or white fur. Some even had slight armor, like helmets and chest plates, but at least none had any weapons except their claws and teeth.

"How are you feeling, Ninomeena?" Nekoangel turned back to her panting dark blue dragon and used a potion on her and afterwards on herself. Ninomeena's panting stopped and she carefully flapped her wings and took off the ground.

"Much better now, thank you," the dragon chirped happily and landed on the cat monster's head.

"Ready to kick some more butt?" Nekoangel patted her head with a fired up smile.

"Yeah!"

The duo jumped out of the safe zone and resumed the massacre. The lizard wolves were bursting into crystals faster than some could even land a hit on the cat monster or the dragon. Ninomeena flew around her master in a circle mostly protecting her back and taking out or at least knocking back the monsters that got dangerously close, while Nekoangel slashed anyone in front of her or on her sides. Her blue tail kept tripping the hostile creatures and her shining claws took them out while they were a little dumbfounded. Sometimes she emitted a water bubble from her body that spread out like a shield and, once it popped, made the monsters who were pushed away by the bubble fall.

But as the duo moved further, Nekoangel started to use her fangs as well. Sometimes she just lunged at her opponents and started tearing them apart, breaking hers and Ninomeena's safe formation. Of course, the dragon simply flew after her master and helped out as best as she could, but sometimes the cat monster moved so fast, it was impossible to catch up to her. It seemed like she was becoming more and more monstrous and less human.

But finally, the huge doors of the 50th floor boss was in front of the duo, after such a long journey through this dark, cold dungeon. At least twenty players were waiting at the door, probably for backup. Strangely enough, the giant blue dragon and her tamer were waiting as well. Nekoangel observed the two but ultimately just scoffed and went to the furthest corner of the corridor next to the boss door.

Most players had their weapons ready to attack the blue cat monster but, once they saw she was just as exhausted as they were, they understood she couldn't be a real monster. Those don't get tired when they are at full health.

For a few minutes it was quiet. Rhythmic breathing of the players and non-hostile creatures were the only other sounds without the dripping of water droplets from the ceiling to a puddle or a little lake, hidden somewhere from the players' eyes.

"How long will it take until the remaining players of your guild arrive?" Darkboy was leaning against Taucelyne's side, who was taking a short nap, but she opened her eyes once she heard her master speak.

"Can't communicate with the outside so no idea," someone answered without even looking back and just stretched.

Anyone could see the irritation on Darkboy's face. He glanced at Nekoangel. If the four of them went in, they would definitely have a chance. But there was strength in numbers. And that strength was definitely needed against the 50th floor boss. Against the boss that marked that half of the 100 floor castle was completed. That after another half, the humans will be released from this world.

Ultimately, Darkboy just exhaled with disappointment and annoyance and made himself even more comfortable, almost sinking into Taucelyne's side. The dragon was rather plum, but her scales didn't give off that much softness. It was enough for her master though. She closed her eyes once more. The giant dragon didn't care for time or probably nothing. Just for her master.

Nekoangel sat down, leaning against the wall and tried to take a nap. Ninomeena tried as well, resting on her master's head. The rest of the players that were sitting a few meters in front of the boss room door started taking out soft things from their Items and resting their heads or even bodies on them, if the things were big enough. Most objects were just fluffy, white pillows that looked like wool without the sheep. Maybe there were giant sheep somewhere in this world that dropped that wool when they got killed.

An even deeper silence enveloped the end of the dungeon. The breathing of players and tamed monsters was weaker and more silent than before. Even the dripping sound somewhere nearby seemed to become quieter.

But as hours slowly passed and there was still no sign of the promised guild members Darkboy finally stood up, after taking numerous short naps, and gestured to Taucelyne to go after him. It was obvious the dragon wasn't very glad to finally stop the calm napping, but she couldn't disobey her master.

"Anyone who wants to get out of this place quicker, I'd suggest going with me and finally taking out that boss. We have a somewhat boss on our side after all. We have plenty of strength," Darkboy tried to persuade the players, but they all just looked hesitantly at each other and shook their heads. They probably didn't trust Taucelyne all that much.

Without another word, Darkboy, even more irritated than before, turned around and faced the boss room's door. He glanced at Nekoangel with a tiny hint of hope. He needed her power.

"Want something?" Nekoangel smirked, finally having something that Darkboy needs instead of the other way around.

"...Can you help me beat this boss?" Darkboy turned his head almost fully away as he asked. Nekoangel couldn't just leave it at that.

"I'm sorry what? Couldn't quite hear you. Speak up a bit?" she suggested with a devious look as she started getting closer to the dark-haired human while on all fours. Her tail swished around happily. Ninomeena was also waiting for the result.

"Please, will you help me beat this boss?" Darkboy finally pleaded with his face turned back to the cat monster, but his eyes looking somewhere up, to the side.

"Well, as you asked so nicely," Nekoangel purred. "I guess I can help."

Darkboy shot her a tiny smile and could finally push open the doors and fight the boss. Though Taucelyne did most of the pushing.

_**Floor 47.**_

"We're ready," Lilomeena happily grinned, almost jumping around outside the cave, with Serouso yawning by her side.

The morning had come and a new plan to find Ninomeena was ready. This time, the whole family wanted to completely stick together and fly in one big search party. Though, Fayerin and Carith weren't as eager as their daughter so early in the morning, but the cause was too great to let laziness take over.

The pink little dragon shot up into the sky first, making others take off as well because they didn't want Lilomeena to wander too far away. Serouso decided to stay closest to her. She was the weakest member of the family after all. Someone had to take care of her.

Fayerin and Carith flew a little lower and a little behind their children. Four pairs of dragon eyes searched anywhere they could possibly see. The creatures even flew into Floria and landed on one of the columns to try and hear some information, but the humans, mostly walking in pairs, chatted rather quietly and couldn't be heard clearly.

But then a heavily armored knight teleported to Floria and started shouting. "High level players needed to fight the 50th floor boss! We just got information that the boss is too strong even with all the guilds that usually fight in the front lines combined! Any help will be appreciated! The loot that anyone gets will be solely theirs as well! Anyone interested - teleport to the 50th floor immediately to discus the strategies to kill the boss! That is all!" the knight teleported away once more, probably to inform lower floors.

Discussions quickly burst in Floria. Now the players were shouting to one another, as if the whole town was a huge arena for debate. Weirdly enough, when someone shouted loud enough, almost everyone went quiet and let the shouter speak.

"Are they talking about that giant blue dragon in the sky?! I heard something like that appeared in the 50th floor!" a young boy's voice rang out.

"Nah, I heard that was a tamed boss!" a woman answered him almost from the other side of the town. "Some guy could fly it, so I guess that's true! A blue cat monster and a little blue dragon also belonged to him! The guy has some serious skills to tame such things! Also, he obviously has a thing for blue!"

"Who cares about some tamer?! We need to help with that boss! Come on! If we all go together, with the front line guilds added, no boss will stand a chance!" a male voice roared.

"Yeah!" cheers spread out through Floria and people started running towards the teleportation gate. The whole town quickly became empty after many bursts of white light.

Even the little dragons that were listening in on the debate, heard something that reminded them of Ninomeena and flew to the sky, quickly appearing in the floor that so many players were teleporting to.

_**Floor 50. Algade.**_

The whole central plaza of Algade was jam-packed with humans that were awaiting for the word of the leaders from the biggest front line guilds. Those leaders were standing on some roofs at the very edge of the plaza, so everyone could see and probably hear them. The little dragons thought about listening in as well, but then Fayerin started looking around uneasily.

"I sense her. She is definitely in this floor," Fayerin was so relieved she could feel her daughter at least when they were in the same floor, but she also felt something bad was happening to her. A mother's intuition?

Without waiting for anyone's reaction, Fayerin darted towards the dungeon, simply by following her senses. The colorful dragons followed without question. When they all had such strong beliefs that Ninomeena will finally be found, everyone was faster, stronger, more vigilant. Smiles and worried frowns kept changing each other's place. Ninomeena is so close! And yet, she is probably in trouble... But that just meant they have to get to her faster and help her so that their family could be full again.

_**Floor 50. Dungeon. Boss room.**_

A giant statue of a six-armed Buddha, without a single face expression, readied its weapons in all six of its arms. The golden and silver boss had five full green health bars at its side and the four people party became rather worried. Well, some got more worried than others. Taucelyne just casually roared to intimidate the boss. The blue dragon and the Buddha statue were around the same height and as the two stood in front of each other, it looked like an epic giant battle was about to go down.

But Taucelyne only had two health bars and that made it clear that this battle will be especially hard.

"The boss will mostly attack Taucelyne and with her intimidation, she will be sure to not let go of the Buddha's attention, so let's keep and eye on Taucelyne's health," Darkboy whispered some information to Nekoangel and started upping the stats of his allies and lowering the stats of the Buddha. Strangely enough, the boss didn't move, even while its attack power was going down. Did it need to get damage to start moving?

But as Nekoangel tried to look for skills of her own that would possibly effect only stats, she noticed something glowing on the Buddha's forehead. A rhombus shaped jewel was blinking with red light and it kept getting stronger and had shorter intervals with every move that affected the boss in any way.

"I-I think we should back away a little," Nekoangel suggested, jumping back herself with Ninomeena flying right after her. "I don't like the look of that light on its forehead."

Darkboy looked up to see the glowing gem as well and started backing away. "Taucelyne, brace yourself," he ordered his dragon and Taucelyne used some kind of guard move by covering her face, stomach and arms with her wings that turned grey, as if they were metal.

It only took a few more debuffs from Darkboy's arrows and bow and the Buddha raised all of its weapons with the red light running down and spreading through its entire body. As the light reached the weapons they started shining brightly. The top two arms, both equipped with scythes, glowed first and slashed Taucelyne's metal wings from the top immediately, but that didn't even make the dragon wobble. Then came the middle arms, equipped with long swords, that slashed the wings horizontally. And finally, the bottom row, equipped with axes, slashed the wings from bellow.

The last attack was the only one that made Taucelyne move. Her wings weren't big enough to cover her legs, but as the boss didn't really aim for them, it just hooked the bottom of the dragon's wings and made her almost fall on her back, but Taucelyne managed to get her balance back by flapping her wings, that had to turn back to normal, and took off the ground.

But that wasn't the last of the fast Buddha's attacks. Now it glowed red completely and the boss started spinning while spreading all of its six arms. The red tornado started spinning towards the players left on the ground. Even though everyone tried jumping out of the way, the tornado kept spinning and going after them. Taucelyne swooped down to catch her master, but the cat monster was left to run with only her own strength.

Running in circles, turning her head back every once in a while and seeing the distance between so many weapons and herself become smaller and smaller made Nekoangel faster momentarily from the adrenaline, but the fearful and disruptive breathing and the strength put into escaping tired her out too quickly with the tornado still on her tail. She looked up with hopeful eyes. If Darkboy would just order Taucelyne to get her too, the boss would definitely not reach any of them. Ninomeena was already flying around her former master, trying to make him help Nekoangel, but Darkboy seemed to simply ignore her and got himself ready to battle the boss while buffing his and Taucelyne's abilities.

"Please, you can't just leave her there!" Ninomeena screeched in Darkboy's ears and kept nudging him.

"I can't save her now. It's better that she will be the only on to suffer than all of us," Darkboy finally answered and started firing normal damaging arrows at the boss. But it probably had an invisible shield while in this red weapon tornado state and the player's arrows just bounced off. He sneered with contempt and awaited for the onslaught to be over, not having anything else to do. At least he readied a potion to use on Nekoangel, if her health got in a dire position.

Finally the cat monster tripped and almost instantly the bottom axes caught her and threw her to the nearest wall. A quarter of Nekoangel's health went down, but the Buddha didn't stop there. The cat monster groaned and breathed painfully as she got up on all fours, only to be welcomed by the same axes, but this time they flung her up, to make her get damaged by the swords and the scythes, before throwing her even higher.

"Catch her!" Ninomeena screeched to Darkboy, seeing her master frozen in a painful state in the air, as if that would help her.

"...Do it," Taucelyne was finally ordered and she dived down a little so she could catch Ninomeena in her claws. The cat monster didn't have to stay in the mercy of the red weapon tornado anymore.

With only a bit of health left, Nekoangel was bracing herself to finally die in this game. Her whole life flashed before her eyes, but she didn't remember faces clearly anymore, even some situations, even precious memories that kept her going seemed not right. Everything was merged with the game's world. That was even more painful that death itself... maybe because pain was only imagination in this place.

"Nekoangel!" Ninomeena flew down to the cat monster and tried to give her the health potion she got from Darkboy. Seeing that her master isn't moving, she helped her drink it. Nekoangel's health was completely regained and she got back to her senses.

"Thank you, my darling," she caught Ninomeena in her arms and hugged her tightly. "If it wasn't for you, I'd already be dead."

The little dragon smiled brightly. She knew her master would do the same for her.

Suddenly the red tornado stopped as the red light receded back to the gem, returning the weapons and body of the boss to their original golden and silver colors. Maybe it was confused that it didn't see anyone on the floor so the onslaught was no longer needed.

"Now!" Darkboy shouted and started shooting the boss with different colored arrows. Taucelyne let Nekoangel go and the cat monster started jumping from one body part of the Buddha to the other, slashing, biting and whatever else she could do to make the boss'es health go down. Taucelyne herself used her water tornado attack and seemed to drown the boss directly from above, though this time there was no safe zone in the middle.

Luckily, the water didn't hurt Nekoangel at all. Maybe it was all the buffs inflicted by Darkboy or maybe it was just because they were allies. There wasn't much time to figure out how elemental attacks work now anyway.

The statue seemed to be flinching from the water. As its weapons kept rising to slash Nekoangel, they kept falling once again. Or maybe the force of the water was just too strong.

Ninomeena observed the fight from the side. Neither her master, nor where the arrows hit could be seen through the water tornado, but the dragon knew everything was fine. But she understood she had to do more than just slash and bite if she wanted to properly help in this battle. She flew up and landed on Taucelyne's back, hoping that place would be safe for her body. The little dragon concentrated and her glowing orange eyes shot open, leaving no trace of the pupil or the sclera, letting the amber pupil take over completely. Sight was also lost, but that didn't scare Ninomeena anymore.

A power stream conjured, flew up and started forming the dark clouds. Quickly, the whole ceiling of the boss'es room was filled with seemingly puffy and fluffy dark matter. Darkboy stopped firing for a little bit and looked up, not understanding what was happening. He looked at Ninomeena and from the light of her eyes he understood this was her doing. The dark-haired player was impressed by the little dragon's power.

Little drops started coming out of the clouds and landing on everyone and all around the boss room. Ninomeena knew they would get poisoned too, but she hoped Darkboy or Nekoangel could somehow protect themselves.

As she regained her sight and waited for the icon of the poisoning to appear next to her health bar. But it didn't show up. Actually, no one in the party got poisoned. Only the boss got it.

One of its five health bars went down to half because of all the attacks from all party members combined and the red gem shone once again. The red light dyed the boss'es body and weapons almost instantly. The tornado once again was set in motion and Nekoangel got the worst of it, being the only one actually on the statue's body. Luckily, she managed to jump up after she got through the weapons. The spinning start was slower than when it gets to full speed, so Nekoangel wasn't thrown in every which direction and could choose where to go.

"Catch her," Darkboy ordered Taucelyne plainly. This time he didn't need encouragement from the little blue dragon, who was blinded by the orange light of her eyes once again because she was summoning the lightning.

_"If poison didn't effect my allies, lightning won't hurt them as well, right?"_ Ninomeena tried to assure herself while seeing only the orange light. She hoped to at least control the lightning and not let it hit anyone she didn't want to get hurt. The last time she couldn't control anything very well, but now there was less space, less clouds and less lightning. Maybe this time she will manage to help everyone.

The statue's red tornado had finished once more and the same attack plan was carried out on it once again. Ninomeena kept running all over the boss'es body, while inflicting any damage possible before weapons started pursuing her. Darkboy kept firing arrows and Taucelyne waited to fire her Tornado Breath again. The skill could be used for only 15 seconds before a minute long cooldown. But she used this skill throughout the statue's cooldown from the first red tornado, so that meant the party took out a tenth of the boss'es health in only 15 seconds.

*zap*

A lightning bolt hit the Buddha's head directly. The whole statue stopped moving immediately, all weapons that were chasing Nekoangel stopped. Darkboy and Nekoangel were both incredibly surprised, but that didn't stop them from attacking further. All questions could be asked later anyway.

The lightning kept shocking the Buddha, just like Ninomeena wanted. Even though she had to put a lot of effort into controlling that thunderstorm, she was doing it.

But she was getting weaker and after the fourth paralyzing lightning, her aim became worse. The lightning hit one of Taucelyne's wings, who was almost exactly above the boss, just on the side. It was too easy to accidentally hit her.

The whole giant blue dragon started wobbling while trying to regain her balance. If she would have felt pain, everything would have probably turned into a worse situation, but now it was just a matter of whether she will get back to flight, or if she will fall.

But Ninomeena and Darkboy, both not having on what to grab on to, as Taucelyne didn't have any back spikes or things like that, stumbled or wobbled, trying to stay on Taucelyne's back. Darkboy managed to stop himself by piercing his dragon's skin a little with his bow to hold on better, just before he would have fallen off, but Ninomeena was both still blinded and her claws kept slipping off the scales of the bigger dragon. Maybe it was just fear, but because she couldn't hold on, she fell straight down on one of the Buddha's scythes.

"N-Ninomeena!" Nekoangel noticed the fall and made her way up from the very bottom of the statue where she was when she spotted her little dragon. But just then, one of five of the boss'es health bars depleted and the red light, breaking through any paralysis, began the onslaught once more.

Ninomeena was immediately dragged into the tornado, but luckily, it made her move towards Nekoangel and the blue cat monster, even though she could barely keep her eyes open from the quick and forceful slashes that made her cringe, caught her blue dragon and curled up into a ball, giving herself up to the tornado of red weapons.

The tornado was at full speed and there was no way to escape it, no matter how fast Nekoangel was. No one could even help the two that were trapped in the tornado, because the lightning, finally being set free from Ninomeena's control, struck anything it could. It didn't even aim at the floor, it struck only real creatures. It was as if the lightning had a mind of its own.

Taucelyne got struck by the yellow flashes repeatedly and the force kept pushing her down to the ground, even though she tried her best to regain balance. Darkboy was struck a few times as well but he was still hanging on to his bow that was piercing the side of Taucelyne a little, so he just froze in that state. Of course, if Taucelyne would tilt too much, he would definitely fall off. But the giant blue dragon fell completely before that could happen. The boss immediately started hitting the paralyzed Taucelyne with all of its weapons. Her master suffered similar attacks.

Everyone's health went down incredibly fast. Only Ninomeena was protected enough as Nekoangel didn't let the Buddha's weapons touch her. But the cat monster herself was obviously doomed. She opened one of her eyes while still in the weapon tornado and stared at her health bar. She started breathing deeply from fear. Her health was going down rapidly. A few more seconds in this situation and she is done for.

But just then, Taucelyne's paralysis dispersed as most of the lightning went for the metal weapons and left the flesh creatures alone for a little. The giant blue dragon jumped onto the boss and knocked it over. The impact completely stopped the tornado and the redness receded.

Nekoangel was thrown out on the ground as well. She opened her arms and found Ninomeena almost unhurt. Smiling gladly, Nekoangel quickly summoned her menu and went to her Items to find a few potions. Her health was down to last drops. She thought that even a sharp leaf could kill her now and that state was terrifying.

Taucelyne tried to rip off the statue's arms or at least weapons, but that just made the boss swing them around. It was almost not aiming at anything, it was just trying to escape.

And then the left long sword landed directly on Nekoangel's back with a powerful force. It felt like time froze. Nekoangel's eyes were wide open as she slowly turned her back to see what had hit her. From under the sword, hundreds of red crystals started flying out of the wound in her back. Her dragon felt like someone had just clutched her heart so tightly she couldn't breathe. She knew what will happen. And yet, the potion Nekoangel wanted to summon had just appeared and the little dragon immediately took it and brought it to her master's mouth. But the cat monster just smiled and raised her hand towards the dragon.

"It's alright... It's just my time," Nekoangel calmly said as her soft but big paw landed on Ninomeena's head.

"N-no... Please," Ninomeena flew down from under the paw and brought the potion even closer. But just before she could try to make Nekoangel drink it, the blue transformed human dispersed into thousands of blue crystals. The potion slid out of Ninomeena's paws and shattered on the ground as the image of her master was still lingering. She didn't want to move, as if she would lose that last memory if she did.

A strange atmosphere enveloped the boss room, leaving only the sound of lightning hitting whatever it pleased and the rain quietly falling down as the background. Though the statue was still struggling and sharper, metallic noises were sent out when it sometimes made its weapons hit the ground.

Even Taucelyne stopped her assault and stared down where the cat monster just was. She understood the last hit that killed her was her fault. It seemed like she was becoming aware of herself.

Even Darkboy, that could finally stand up, was in shock. It was obvious he didn't care much for the female, but he definitely didn't want her to die.

"I-it's my fault. I shouldn't have made her come here," he whispered, probably just to himself.

Darkboy's and Taucelyne's health was down, but this sudden death made them completely forget the fact. They didn't realize how close they were to ending up just like her.

A sudden red wave pushed Taucelyne off the boss, but the force made the other two party members fall back as well. Darkboy snapped out of it after that blow and jumped for Ninomeena and back to Taucelyne, almost shrieking that she would take off. They needed to be in the safest place possible and that was definitely not on the ground.

But the lightning was still raging on and Ninomeena was unable to do anything about it. Everyone was soaked from the poisonous rain, but Ninomeena added to that with the tears rolling down out of her deep amber eyes that seemed simply dead.

The boss still had almost four full health bars left. As Taucelyne tried to stay in the air, Darkboy kept healing himself and her. But the statue seemed to have the capability to understand the situation and change its approach accordingly. One of the scythes were thrown directly up and pierced Taucelyne's wing. A painful screech filled the room, but another scythe made matters even worse.

The dragon couldn't fly anymore, Ninomeena couldn't move anymore out of shock and Darkboy was simply trying to not fall and to not get sucked into the red tornado. His plan was completely ruined and now, after he lost one life he was responsible for, it was obvious every single of them was going to die.

* * *

**...So that happened...**

**Felt the need to turn this story grim... one little birdy suggested me that and I bet she is kind of sorry she said that now ^.^'' But it's not her fault. I planned to bring in death some day.**

**Review ^.^**


	9. Last tears

_**Last tears**_

_**Floor 50. Dungeon. Boss room.**_

"S-she's gone," Ninomeena whispered to herself, staring down blankly while thunder roared around her and rain continued pouring. She felt like there was nothing left for her. Like she was completely alone and that death will soon claim her as well. But the little dragon wasn't alone. She was still on the blue dragon, next to Darkboy.

Taucelyne was growling out of pain and anger. But something was worse than her pierced wings. Her entire body was hurting. She closed her eyes tightly and hid it under her paws. She started glitching.

"W-what's happening?" Darkboy stood on Taucelyne's back and felt like he was about to fall through the glitching. He jumped off and tried to heal his dragon, but quickly understood health wasn't the problem. And yet, he had to continue to heal her.

The boss still had four weapons and he used them all on Taucelyne. At least its scythes had disappeared and didn't spawn back in the Buddha's hands. At least no yet.

"Taucelyne! Snap out of it and fight back! I can't keep you safe through the onslaught!" Darkboy knew his limits and knew he couldn't surpass them. He was honestly worried for the dragon.

But the dragon could only roar painfully in response. She got up on all fours, trying to possibly do something. But her whole body was trembling and glitching. She knew she would fall soon.

But before that she glared at the boss and stood right in front of it, taking all the blows to her face and her front legs. She breathed in deeply and released a water tornado from her mouth. The force was so big, the Buddha fell on its back. The weapons were raised up and the lightning once again aimed only at them, rather than at the fleshy creatures fighting the boss. But it's not like it wasn't in that position before. This move just bought them some time... Time they didn't know how to properly use to survive.

Darkboy stayed clear of the Buddha while it was on its back. Nekoangel's death flashed before his eyes. Now only Taucelyne was next to it. But how did it actually get up before. Darkboy only saw a forceful red wave then and once he was in the sky on Taucelyne, the boss was already up.

The red wave repeated but as Taucelyne had fallen on her stomach again, the force didn't even push her away. Only Ninomeena rolled off her back and fell on the ground behind her. Darkboy could hang on to Taucelyne's tail and observe the red wave rising the Buddha back on its feet. That one attack from Taucelyne and the poison and lightning had brought its health down to 3 and a half health bars. The red tornado onslaught was about to repeat.

But something was different. The Buddha stood still, as if it was focusing on something. Targeting something. Its red gem shone brightly, but nothing began. Darkboy was bracing himself for another deadly tornado and kept putting up shields on everyone. But then the gem in the boss'es forehead flashed and fired a laser beam directly at Darkboy's head. Time froze for the dark-haired human as well. He started falling backwards, he felt his body going numb. It was an instant kill move.

Ninomeena and Taucelyne had both raised their heads and looked at the shot human. A red stream of crystals flew out of a hole in his forehead.

"M-master," Taucelyne managed to growl out her first words as another player burst into blue crystals. Two humans in the party and both had fallen, strangely before their tamed monsters. Monsters that both had artificial intelligence now.

The giant blue dragon roared out her frustration and sorrow. The rain poured as if it tried to calm her down, but it only added to her sadness to the horrible situation she and Ninomeena were abandoned in.

Both dragons snapped out of it momentarily. They looked at the boss left with more than half its health with immense fear and yet, they seemed to be accepting their fates. For the past few days, they didn't know anything except being tamed. As if their minds were wiped of everything else, or, rather, Taucelyne wasn't even able to think before. But even with the last seconds, she understood she had a bond with Darkboy. And it broke just like that. But she seemed to refuse to let go.

"I'll kill you!" she growled and then roared as she got up, seeing as the Buddha was rising its weapons once more. Even with the fear flashing in her eyes, she had nothing left to lose.

Ninomeena bared her fangs as well and ran towards the boss, taking to air once she reached good enough speed. The two blue dragons were left to fight the boss in their masters' stead. They wanted to avenge them. They had to.

But as both of them shone because of the abilities they wanted to use, they were met by an invisible shield. The two looked up at the gem, waiting for the tornado to repeat, leaving them helpless because of how close they were to the Buddha. But the jewel didn't shine. The boss didn't move either. Everything just kind of... dimmed. The battle was over. No more players were present and monsters couldn't fight bosses on their own.

But what now? How can they leave this room? The doors were shut. The lightning and rain were somehow immediately turned off. They probably disappeared the moment Darkboy was shot, but the dragons didn't even notice.

And just then, the doors the little party entered the boss room through started opening. Four colorful dragons flew in, leaving a group of curious people that had waited before, to stare at the peculiar sight. So many monsters in the boss room and yet no one is fighting. Of course, no players were inside either.

"Ninomeena!" a pink and a yellow dragon shouted out almost at the same time as they almost tackled the little blue one with their hugs. A green and a red dragon, with happy smiles, quickly joined in.

"Y-you are all here!" Ninomeena couldn't believe what she was seeing. The moment she saw those brightly colored feathers she remembered everything. Everything that was blocked out just because she was tamed. A certain freedom, safety and ease came over her and she breathed out deeply, letting go of the tears she tried holding on to. She wasn't sure why she was crying now and even more than before. It seemed like she had burst just like Nekoangel at the dungeon entrance, from everything that happened it a short time period. But now everything finally seemed to be getting brighter.

"Let's go, dear. Humans will soon come and I don't want you or any of us to be captured again," Fayerin stroked her daughter's head and smiled warmly before flying towards the exit. The rest of the little dragons seemed happy as well and turned to fly off.

"W-wait! What about Taucelyne?" Ninomeena asked, glancing down at the dragon with pierced wings. "It would be amazing if she came with us. She is super strong. B-but if she can't, then at least please heal her," the little blue dragon suggested and pleaded with hope. Of course Fayerin and Lilomeena weren't the type to just abandon a fellow monster in need. And it was obvious that Taucelyne had achieved some advanced AI. She kept looking around at the little dragons with hope that they would take her pain away. Normal monsters don't feel pain, nor do they have hope for anything.

But Darkboy tried healing Taucelyne before and yet, her wings didn't heal together with her HP. Well, her health wasn't able to go back to full, so maybe she just needed more healing so that her wings would fix themselves. Taucelyne awaited eagerly as she started shining in pink and yellow changing colors. The light was so nice and warm that she started purring. Though it sounded more like growling. And yet there was a difference between this growling and the one when she is angry.

And then she felt it. The holes in her blue wings were closing up. She stretched them to see their healing better as they slowly came back to normal. Taucelyne flapped her wings and took off immediately sending out a joyous laugh to echo through the boss room. There was no space for a creature of her size to do any impressive tricks, but she was happy enough with simple circles that went up and down.

"Taucelyne, was it?" Carith caught up to the dragoness. "A word of advice - if you don't want to battle the boss again, you should leave, preferably with us. Many humans are coming here through the dungeon and if you stay, you'll soon get caught up in their battle and we won't stick around to heal you again," the green dragon suggested and seemed to almost threaten. Taucelyne stopped and looked at the tiny dragon at her side, who was staring back at her with his red eyes. He seemed almost... intimidating.

The giant blue dragon looked back at the golden and silver boss in the middle of the room, which was standing completely still and had all of its weapons ready once again, and growled. Those scythes will haunt her in her nightmares.

"Alright. Let's get out of here," Taucelyne nodded and landed. She was too big to just fly around in the dungeon. Unless she would try to smash her way through to the surface, but that seemed rather impossible.

But as Taucelyne got out of the boss room and started walking in the dark, damp tunnels, she started understanding just how little she understood. She wasn't sure how she got there. She didn't remember how to get out. She just kind of understood they had to be underground.

She also understood that all these dragons feel the world like her - not like simple monsters, but like something... advanced.

"W-why is that dragon here?!" someone shouted out as he spotted a giant blue dragon almost completely blocking the path in the corridor. As Taucelyne raised her head and stopped her thoughts, she saw many colorful humans with weapons in hand. They all had stopped. Taucelyne looked at the colorful dragon family flying around her. They seemed rather alarmed.

"How can we get past that? Will it try to burn us or eat us up if we run?" someone asked in the big group and Taucelyne sighed.

"I won't hurt anyone. We just want to get out of here," the dragon tried to explain but met only more confused eyes.

"...Something that big can talk?" the discussion between the humans began.

"Well, you saw that cat monster. She could."

"Yeah... But this one is the size of a boss. What would happen if all bosses spoke and weren't mindless monsters. They would see through strategy and it would be even harder to beat that."

The chattering quickly became inaudible as everyone spoke over the others. The dragons were becoming annoyed.

"Let's just try to move, alright, Taucelyne?" Fayerin flew up to the dragon's ear and Taucelyne nodded.

As the biggest dragon carefully started raising her paws and stepping forward, the chattering became rather angry.

"Hey, hey! What are you doing?! You'll crush us!"

"B-but how else am I supposed to get out of here?" Taucelyne didn't like so many furious glares staring at her and she started cringing. Her size quickly changed as she drew back her head, making her rather long neck coil.

"Humans! Just pass now and stop your hostilities!" Carith roared loudly. Even if he was small, the sound was still impressive.

"...You think that you, some green pipsqueak, can order us around?" someone laughed in the crowd.

"B-but the dragon is right! It doesn't seem like any of them will hurt us so let's just go!" a young girl's voice tried to be the loudest.

"If you're so sure, pass under it!" someone pulled the girl out of the crowd of players and pushed her towards the dragon. The pink haired girl with a yellow dress almost fell down from the force, but Serouso, being the closest to the ground, flew in front of her and let the girl get her balance back by holding onto him. Once she did, the red dragon smirked and flew up. All the female family members smiled at Serouso's gesture. It seemed it was an instinct for him to help damsels in distress, even if he didn't want to admit it.

"T-thank you," the girl smiled and raised her head, to meet Taucelyne's black eyes and her smile turned a little nervous. But Taucelyne's eyes were kind, the girl could see that. Taucelyne nodded for the girl to move and the girl finally nodded back and slowly walked in between the front legs of the blue dragon. Once the belly had ended, a tail that was calmly wagging, extended further out. The girl smiled more brightly from the dog resemblance. A dragon was really nothing to be scared about. Especially this one.

And so the girl got to the other side and waved to the others to pass under Taucelyne as well. The giant dragon mostly didn't even move, except for her tail wagging a little nervously and an occasional awkward smile that tried to stop the furious glares. But after the pink-haired girl managed to safely wave after her "very dangerous" journey, the glares stopped and the players started moving towards the girl. At first it was only a few, but then the whole party walked with cautious glances.

Taucelyne saw that many humans still had their weapons pointed at her, just in case. She tried to raise her stomach as high as possible that no spear or scythe would accidentally scrape her stomach, by breathing in and squishing her stomach. The belly was the weakest part of the dragon after all. Though wings were probably a better tactical decision to attack.

"Thank you!" as the last humans appeared on the other side, the pink-haired girl with the yellow dress shouted out with a huge grin. Taucelyne looked back with the help of her long neck and smiled. The girl was the only one with her back not turned on the many dragons. She seemed to glow with purity and happiness, not like the others. They seemed almost corrupt by something.

"Let's go," Carith flew past Taucelyne's face, so she would react quicker and the six dragons finally could get a move on. Now everyone was hurrying. No one wanted to get stuck in that situation again.

But the giant blue dragon felt worried. The girl was going where two humans already died. Maybe they should have given some information about the boss so the battle would be easier, but no one remembered in time.

"H-hey, Ninomeena," Taucelyne called for the little feathered dragon and when she saw her orange eyes fixated on her, Taucelyne looked to the side, as if she was saying something wrong. "Maybe we should tell the humans what the boss is capable of. All of them would have a better chance at survival."

Ninomeena understood why the giant dragon called her specifically. Only the two of them could possibly understand that it is hard to stand by and watch humans that you were attached to - die, when you can't do anything about it... or even when their death is your own fault. But Ninomeena also understood that her family will not approve of sharing information with the humans. Her father and brother would be against that the most.

But as everyone stayed close to each other, the two males heard Taucelyne's request and glared at her.

"Humans only bring pain and suffering," Carith calmly said.

"Humans are thieves that only can't see past their own selfish needs," Serouso added, but while growling.

"N-not all humans are bad," Ninomeena thought like she should try to change their minds. Maybe Nekoangel really did only bring stuff that Carith and maybe she was her master just because she wanted a dragon like her, but at the end, Nekoangel tried for her, protected her, always treated her warmly. She wasn't a bad person.

"I don't want to hear it," Carith broke his youngest daughter's thoughts. "That many humans will be able to take care of themselves. There is no need to try and help them."

"They will probably not even listen to your warnings anyway, sweetie," Fayerin added, making her position clear. Lilomeena was the only one staying quiet and not choosing a side.

The pink one flapped her wings slowly and was looking down. It was clear she didn't want humans to just die, but she probably wasn't that keen on helping them either, after the way most of them seemed hostile. But for that girl... Just for her...

But then a heavy thump echoed through the damp, dark dungeon. The doors of the boss room were shut and the humans couldn't be given any information even if the dragons tried. The blue females that were thinking about helping just lowered their heads and headed to the exit again. There was no more reason to think about the humans. Better to just forget them. And the little girl.

A ray of sunshine was sitting on the floor just before the exit out of the dungeon. The dragons needed to squint their colorful eyes as they finally got outside. The dark nightmare was finally over. The whole family was together again and no one had to suffer anymore. When they all were together, nothing seemed scary or too tough. At least the monsters in the dungeon definitely didn't stand a chance against them... Well, mostly Taucelyne. She needed to only slash their foes a few times and they dispersed into crystals.

But now no one posed a threat outside, in the fields, with the wast sky above them that would welcome the dragons any time.

"I'm so glad we are together again, sweetie," Fayerin hugged Ninomeena, finally feeling completely safe.

"We can finally go back home together," Lilomeena chirped as well and hugged her sister too. Ninomeena giggled. How could she have forgotten such amazing creatures before. She even spotted Serouso and Carith smiling faintly at the cute family scene.

"Mom, can Taucelyne come with us?" Ninomeena suddenly asked. She couldn't stop thinking about the giant blue dragon that was sitting a bit further away and scanning the surroundings.

Taucelyne had no idea about what she was supposed to do now, without a master. Should she get back to the underwater castle? Should she explore this world? But humans will probably try to attack her and will always be hostile towards her. Because they are scared of her. Because she is something they don't understand.

"Hey, Taucelyne," the giant dragon's thoughts were suddenly disturbed, as the family of dragons flew towards her, with Ninomeena calling out to her, flying in the front. "Would you like to become a part of our family?" the little blue dragon eagerly asked. She knew how scary and unknown the world is, especially when no one would be there to explain it. Ninomeena was lucky enough to have a family that always helped her, but Taucelyne was alone. But Ninomeena hoped that the giant dragon didn't want to be separated from her.

"A-a part... of your family?" Taucelyne looked at all the colorful feathered dragons. They were all so tiny and they didn't have scales, like her, but somehow, she felt a bond with them. And the smiles on all of their faces, no matter how small, led her to believe they felt that way as well.

_**Floor 47.**_

The family of the six dragons all flew to the garden-themed floor. Even though Taucelyne was too big for the cave of the smaller dragons, she quickly transformed the cave in the hill, deepening and enlarging the former little space, making it also go underground. The soft ground felt incredibly comfortable for the giant dragon, she was even surprised herself. Somehow, she had memories how it felt to sleep in the pile of jewels and she understood how painful it must have been. Her scales were actually pretty soft and didn't protect that much. Her soft underbelly was even in a worse situation.

But now there was no pain, no discomfort and the giant dragon quickly fell asleep with most of the family members sleeping on her. Everyone went to sleep, finally at peace, except for Serouso and Carith that stood outside the giant underground cave, looking at the setting sun in the distance.

"She will be the most powerful of us all. When she reaches the peak of her powers, it will be no trouble to win against the humans," Carith quietly spoke.

"She doesn't seem aggressive enough to actually kill humans. She will need a strong push," Serouso added, making sure that no one else heard him but his father.

"She'll get it. Everyone will get it. But we still need more allies. We need to start turning monsters into creatures like us. Tomorrow," Carith finally decided and flew to the cave, landing next to Fayerin and curling up on Taucelyne.

"Such power... She can kill anyone she pleases. Better stay on her good side," Serouso smirked and with the last rays of the setting sun, spreading through the flowery floor, descended into the cave and fell asleep with the rest of the dragons.

* * *

**I'm thinking that I should end this fanfic here. The story will change drastically with training and massive massacres on both sides, so this either calls for a second part or an end. You decide. Though I'll probably won't get to the second part quickly.**

**Anyways, sayonara everyone ^.^ This is the first fanfiction I actually finished. I always thought it would be one with pokemon ^.^'' oh well.  
**

**Share your last thoughts with a review ^.^**


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